Harry Potter and the Sword of Helios
by nekuyr2005
Summary: H/Hr Fifth year. Turmoil, a school wide wizards duel, spiral tower, lost souls, memoritia, time travel, the ultimate weapon, the ultimate plot, the ultimate danger, the ultimate evil! WARNING: this story is not for the faint of heart.
1. The Midnight Gathering

  
Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, I wouldn't be writing this, I'd be in my mansion counting my money.  
  
A/N- First off, I would like to apologize for the bad Grammer. I wrote this late at night, and didn't proof read it. I was just experimenting with Fanfiction.net at the time. I Proof read this chapter, and corrected it as much as I could. Once again, I'm very sorry.  
  
  
  
Chapter I: the midnight gathering  
  
            It was a very dark and quiet night. There wasn't an ounce of light or sound anywhere. Nothing could be seen or heard for miles around. Not even the sound of little crickets or the call of ravens could be heard, and definitely could not be seen. The reason it was so dark was because it was nighttime during a new moon. And the reason why it was so quiet was because of the type of place it was. For this was not an ordinary place. In fact this place was anything but ordinary. For it was in this place that four people were mysteriously murdered. Yes it was the old Riddle house.  
  
            It was in this house many years ago when the wealthy and hated Riddle family was mysteriously killed. Everyone believed that the killer was Frank, their gardener. He was, however released due to lack of evidence. The real mystery of these murders was not who killed the Riddle family-they all knew it was Frank, but how he killed them. The Riddles were all found murdered, but there were no marks on their bodies explaining how they were killed. It was as if they had dropped dead. Frank stayed on as the gardener for many years, even though he was not wanted in the old town. That was until one night exactly a year ago. When an intruder broke into the dusty, antiquated establishment. Frank suspecting that it was the usual neighborhood kids went inside looking for them. It wasn't unusual for kids to run around the old Riddle house at that time. They did it mostly to spite Frank. They liked having him run around after them trying to chase them out of the Riddles' estate. However, this time it wasn't a group of kids. It was the very person who murdered the Riddles, who was the intruder. And when he found Frank, he immediately murdered him the same way that he murdered the Riddles.  
  
            Imagine how surprised the people of the town were when they found Frank lying on the floor a few weeks later. He was lying unconsciously, but was completely healthy. There were no signs of a struggle, no marks of how he died, there wasn't even a scratch on him. The only thing that they saw on him was the look of shock on his face. Was he scared to death? No that was impossible. He was definitely murdered, but no one knew how. Many rumors started spreading. People were starting to say that the house was cursed. None would dare go even within a mile of that loathed house. They even considered tearing it down. That idea went down the drain however, because it was a privately owned estate. A wealthy man bought as a tax write-off. So instead they just stayed away from the house, and told all those who came nearby to stay away. That became the slogan of the whole town "stay away from that cursed house, and maybe you'll live to see another day".  
  
            However, not everyone was able to stay away. For some people enjoyed mystery, and suspense. For on this night, you could hear faint footsteps getting closer to the estate. You could see light originating from a flashlight, and you could see a small cloud of debris in front of the flashlight made by the impact of feet into the ground. Obviously people were coming. Why? Why would people come to this place? A place where four unexplained murders occurred; one of them exactly one year ago. Was it curiosity? No, it was an obsession. These people had to know.  
  
            "unghhhh," cried one of them as he fell to the ground. He got up quietly, and when he saw how his friends looked at him, he gave them a nervous looking smile, as a signal of his apology. He dusted himself off and joined the rest of his friends as they continued walking toward the house.  
  
            They had definitely picked a good night to go to the house, as it was so dark and quiet, it was easy to enter inconspicuously. They knew that if they were caught they could be in big trouble. The police might think that they were the killers. This thought probably ran through their minds more than once, but they didn't care. They had to get some clues. They had to know more.  
  
            They stopped right outside of the estate. They each got down on their knees and one of them took two objects out of his backpack, a piece of paper, and a flashlight. He pointed the flashlight on the paper (the other flashlight was used by one of the other people to scout around). This piece of paper that he held turned out to be a map of the entire Riddle estate; from the gate, to Frank's old cabin, right down to the house itself. It seemed to have a very good similarity with the estate. They obviously have been around here before [during the day]. Tonight they were going to go inside the house. For it was in the house, that all the murders actually took place. The map was rolled up and the flashlight was moved towards the faces of the two of the three people that were there. One of them turned out to be a boy of around sixteen. He was black, with brown eyes, had a fade type of haircut, and was wearing a gray coat. The other was a blond girl with green eyes, and a red sweater, who looked around fifteen.  
  
            "So, are you guys ready," asked the third person, in a very nervous voice.  
  
            "Yeah," said the black boy, as he waved his own flashlight towards the last member of the group. It shown on the face a pudgy boy with brown eyes, black hair, and a green sweater, who looked around fifteen years old. "I've been ready for this ever since I heard Frank was killed, man I can't wait to go inside and see what kind of place this is."  
  
            "Well," said the blond girl, "you're about to get your chance. Because, as the 'mystery solvers club,' it is our job to solve the mystery of these incidents."  
  
            "I still say we shouldn't be here," shrieked the pudgy boy. "It's dangerous. Besides, if the police couldn't find out what happened, what makes you think that we can do anything."  
  
            "Oh, will you grow a backbone already", said the blond girl in an annoyed voice. "Where's your sense of adventure, your 'get up and go?'"  
  
            "It got up and went," answered the pudgy boy, looking even more scared.  
  
            "Well, we went through a lot of trouble to get here, no sense backing out now," the black boy said matter-of-factly. "Let's just get this over with," starting to sound less brave as he looked at the house.  
  
            "Don't tell me you're starting to chicken out as well," snapped the blond girl, looking shocked.  
  
            "I'm not, it's just that well, you know."  
  
            "Yeah, I know. I know that you're turning into a coward like this bag of lard here," the girl growled already getting really irritated stated. "We have been planning this for a long time. Tonight is the perfect night to sneak inside, and you two are going in, even if I have to drag you in kicking and screaming. Understand."  
  
            Both nodded, seemingly more afraid of the girl, than of what's inside the house.  
  
            The pudgy boy packed the map away, as the three of them got up, and started walking towards the house. They climbed over the rusty old gate and started sprinting up towards the house. Just as they were gaining speed, something stopped them and pulled them into a nearby bush.  
  
            "What do you think you're doing fat bastard?!" whispered the girl with extreme anger in her eyes. "You almost scared me to death!"  
  
            "Yeah, what's up with you man?" whispered the black boy, looking more scared than angry.  
  
            "I thought a heard foot steps," shrieked the pudgy boy in a very panicky voice.  
  
            "Where?" Asked the girl starting to get more worried.  
  
            "I don't know, I can't hear them anymore," answered the boy, getting more and more scared with every passing second. "Let's just turn around, this is not a good idea," he begged. Looking more at the girl than the other boy.  
  
            "No," stated the girl. "We're not going anywhere. The only reason I started this club is to mphhhhhh." she tried to continue speaking as the black boy covered her mouth with one of his hands, and pointed with the other. The girl immediately removed his hand and started glaring angrily at him. She was about to say something to him, but stopped when she saw the look on his face. He seemed to be even whiter than her. She looked in the direction that he was pointing, and found out why. For heading towards them were two cloaked and hooded figures. One of them was tall, and straight looking, while the other was short and slouched. Neither of their faces could be seen, but something about their presence struck fear into all of them. The pudgy boy immediately started to panic. Just as he was getting louder, the girl smacked him across the face. "Quiet, you want them to find us!" she snapped at him angrily.  
  
            "Uh-oh, they're getting closer. They're coming straight at us, do you think they know we're here?" asked the black boy, looking absolutely terrified.  
  
            "No," answered the girl trying to regain her calm. "How could they?"  
  
            But for some reason the shadowy beings were getting closer, and closer with every second. They were walking straight towards the trio as if they knew exactly where they were.  
  
            "Now I lay me down to sleep," the black boy started muttering a prayer, as the girl hushed him. Knowing that unless they're extremely quiet, they might be in very big trouble.  
  
            The hooded figures were only twenty yards away getting closer the bush. Fifteen yards, 'please turn around,' thought the girl, ten yards, 'please, I swear no more investigating if these two will just go away,' five yards, 'please god, I never ask for anything else,' four yards 'please god PLEASE!' Three yards 'that's it it's all over,' and then suddenly the hooded figures stopped. 'Thank you god, thank you!' thought the relieved girl. But her relief suddenly turned into absolute terror as she looked at the hooded figures.  
  
            The short, slouched one took his hood off to reveal a bald man. His other features couldn't be seen in the night. But that definitely wasn't what scared her. What scared her was the other figure. Although his face was completely hidden by the darkness and the hood, the scariest feature of his face was not. In fact, it was seen as clear as in daylight, as if it was glowing in the dark. And worst of all there were two of them. They were his eyes. But, they weren't normal eyes. They looked like the eyes of a demon. They were two tiny red slits filled with anger, hate, and murder in them. The second the trio looked into those horrible eyes, they all grew pale, and the hairs on their neck stood up.  
  
            The two figures stood there for a while not saying anything. They stood as still as if they were statues. The short figure stood slouched with his arms at his sides looking at the ground as if there was something interesting there. The trio assumed it was because he didn't want to look the other figure in the eyes. The taller one stood with his arms crossed looking in one direction as if he was expecting something to come out from there.  
  
            "Uh, m-master," the smaller one began to stutter, then stopped as if waiting for permission to continue.  
  
            "What is it wormtail," answered the taller figure in a high a frightening voice. This voice brought back all the fear that was fading from the trio. "Well, what do you want!" said the taller figure getting impatient.  
  
            "D-do you believe that he will be successful with the mission that you gave him?" asked the smaller figure.  
  
            "Of course I do. We have had nothing but bad luck for the past few weeks; we're bound to run into some good luck eventually. And I'm sure that now is the time wormtail." Answered the taller figure as he moved his right foot a little to the left as if getting it out of an uncomfortable position, and once again turning towards the same spot he has been looking at for the past couple of minutes. "Ah, speak of the devil, here he comes now." And sure enough another hooded figure as tall as the one with the red eyes had appeared. He hooded figure got down on his knees, took the robe of the figure with red eyes, kissed it, moved away and got back up.  
  
            "You are late, Lucius!" said the red-eyed figure with an angry voice.  
  
            "Please forgive me master," Lucius said as he bowed courteously.  
  
            "Do you have it?"  
  
            "Of, course, I would never let you down master. I would give up my life before failing you," said Lucius as he handed something to the red-eyed figure. "Here is what you requested master," he added.  
  
            "Good work Lucius," said the red-eyed figure as he started observing what he was given. It was very hard for the trio to see what he was looking at, being that it was dark and the figures robe was blocking their view. "Yes, this is it," snarled the red-eyed figure. "This is perfect. Only two more to go, and then all I'll need is the sword, and my plan will be complete."  
  
            "Uh, master, can I ask you something," Lucius started. Then after seeing his master's approval he continued. "Well, it's just that well we haven't killed any muggles yet, and I was wondering...?"  
  
            "Hahahahahah!" the red-eyed figure gave a short laugh.  
  
            Muggles, what's a muggle? The trio wondered. Was it some kind of code word for enemy?  
  
            "This is why I am the master, and you are the servant," the high voice once again began to speak as Lucius' head went down in what seemed like shame. "You only look for small pawns to take, and forget what your true intention is. Unlike you, I look towards bigger things, I look towards the defeat of the king: Albus Dumbledore!"  
  
            Albus Dumbledore, who was Albus Dumbledore? Wondered the trio, was he someone they were after, or was it a code name for some kind of organization, or a country they were trying to destroy or take over. Whatever it was the trio knew it was dangerous, and that as soon as they got the chance they should leave this place.  
  
            "Before I got that little dose of information, things have not been looking so good for us," continued the high voice. "The giants refused to join us. I suspect that Dumbledore had sent that oaf Hagrid to convince the giants to join up with him. Without the giants my army is greatly weakened. I'm not sure if the Dementors will join up with me. The only thing they care about is using their powers on living beings. And as long as Fudge can provide them with someone whose happiness they can suck out, they're happy. And there is no way I can prove to them that I can give them a better deal, not without a powerful army. And like I said, the giants' refusal to join me greatly reduces my forces. We have no choice, we have to be patient and wait," sighed the red-eyed figure leaving the trio even more confused with the new words he brought in, Hagrid, Dementors, Giants, and what was he saying about an army? "However, you can rest easy," assured the red-eyed figure. "As soon as I get the sword of Helios, and combine it with the five orbs of Helios, I will have all the power I need. I won't even need the Giants, or the Dementors anymore."  
  
            "But, master," began Lucius again. "What is the sword of Helios, I've never heard of it, and where is it? Do you know?"  
  
            "Of course, I know, Lord Voldemort knows all. I would've gone after the sword a long time ago except, well that's a long story. The point is, my spies have definitely seen it, and identified it. They gave me a close description of it. I am convinced that it is the sword of Helios. And besides, we don't have too many options. That fool Fudge stubbornly denies that I have come back to life. That is the only advantage we have now. Therefore, it is important that I not give myself away just yet. Hm, hm, hahahahahaha. The ministry of magic has become too complacent during these times of peace. And now the fools will know what happens when you let your guard down," said Voldemort with the most evil voice the trio has heard so far.  
  
            The trio have never been this scared in their lives, and it was this fear that caused the pudgy boy to slip from his knees and fall onto his back.  
  
            Immediately Voldemort looked to his left, while the other two just looked at him. "W-w-what is it master," asked wormtail in a frightened voice.  
  
            Voldemort didn't answer him; he just started hissing for a while, and then stopped. Immediately from under his robe, something started to crawl out. It was a snake. And not just any snake, it was the most evil, most disgusting looking snake that the trio had ever seen. It slowly started rising and hissing at the same time. Then it turned towards Voldemort, and started hissing at him. Voldemort nodded, and the snake crawled away towards the old Riddle house. The trio felt relieved. That Voldemort guy didn't hear anything, he just felt the snake bite him that's all. That was the uncomfortable feeling that he showed after the pudgy boy fell down. It must have been, the only other explanation, was that this Voldemort guy can talk to snakes, and that was impossible. The trio immediately agreed to that, and started to feel a little relieved. Then just as they calmed down they heard a hissing. Where was that hissing coming from, it had to be coming from Voldemort, it couldn't have been coming from anywhere else, could it? Just then the girl turned around and saw where the hissing was coming from. For what she saw was the exact same snake that headed towards the Riddle house at eye level with her, staring directly into her eyes. Obviously it came around the house in order to surprise them. But how, snakes weren't that smart, were they?  
  
            "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Screamed the girl as she ran out of the bushes straight towards the three robed figures. As she ran towards them she tripped on a rock and fell on her face. The two wondered what she was doing, why she yelled and ran? Then they found out as they turned around, now the snake was staring at them. They each yelled and ran towards the girl, followed by the snake. They stopped as soon as they reached the girl. They each kneeled by her to see if she was okay. After they saw that she was, they stared up at the three robed figures standing in front of them. As they did they remembered the reason why they were hiding in the first place. Looking at those eyes up close once again made the hairs on their neck stand. It was as if you were looking at the devil himself, only worse.  
  
            "Well what do we have here?" Voldemort began to sneer. "A couple of trespassers. You do know how dangerous it is around these here parts, during this time of night, don't you?"  
  
            "P-p-please, M-Mr. Voldemort sir," the girl began to plea, it seems as if the other two were too afraid to speak. "P-p-please d-don't hurt us."  
  
            "Oh, I won't hurt you, I promise," said Voldemort as he put his hand on his chest, and started smiling. "For all I know this won't hurt at all, of course I really can't be sure since I never experienced it. Heheheheh."  
  
            Lucius and wormtail looked at each other, both knowing exactly what he was talking about.  
  
            "P-p-please sir, we'll do anything," the girl continued begging.  
  
            Slowly Voldemort reaches inside his robe trying to pull something out. The trio immediately started panicking, knowing that he was about to pull out a gun, or a knife. But oddly enough he didn't. He pulled out a stick. This confused them a lot, what was he going to do with a stick, was he going to play fetch with his snake. After he pulled it out he started moving away from them towards the snake. He was going to throw it to the snake. "It seems that all this time we were being watched," he said softly.  
  
            "We're really sorry sir," the pudgy boy yelled quickly.  
  
            "Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha aaahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!" Voldemort laughed maniacally, which made the trio even more afraid, if that was possible. "They all thought I was out of the game, but now I'm holding all the cards!" Voldemort said, as if talking to the thin air in front of him. Then he did something that he hadn't done all night, he removed his hood, and faced the trio once again. His face was the most horrifying face they ever saw. It was white as snow, his head and forehead had wrinkle like bumps on it, his nose was nothing more than two small slits like a snakes, and his red eyes had a look of immense fury in them, and at that moment, the trio knew that they had stumbled into something more dangerous than they ever expected. He fixed his furious gaze upon the trio looking more and more furious with every passing second. Then he picked up the stick and started pointing it at the trio. They were trembling worse than they have been all night.  
  
            "I'll...I'll........ I'll have the last laugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
            And immediately a bright green light headed right towards them. They started screaming because it was all they could do.  
  
            "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH......."


	2. A New Harry

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.  
  
          "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
           A very loud screaming could be heard for miles from its originator. No it wasn't the pudgy boy, or the black boy, or the blond girl. It was a boy in his bed, in his pajamas in a house in England, more specifically on number four Privet drive. And that boy is none other than Harry Potter.  
  
           Harry was yelling at the top of his lungs. At that moment he felt as much pain as he did in the previous year when Lord Voldemort tortured him. He fell off his bed and rolled around on the floor for at least half a minute clutching his lightning bolt scar on his forehead. At that moment the only thing Harry wanted to do was to die; to die, and not suffer from this horrible torture anymore. The pain didn't seem to let up at all after thirty seconds. It kept going; in fact it only kept getting worse. Harry kept rolling around and yelling for around another thirty seconds until the pain was finally starting to die down a bit. Harry continued to lie on the floor sweating and panting, not thinking about anything at all. He just lay there and stared at the ceiling for a couple a minutes until something snapped him out of his trance.  
  
           BANG, BANG, BANG. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING BOY!" It was his uncle version shouting and banging on his door really hard. "WE'RE TRYING TO GET SOME SLEEP, I'VE GOT A REALLY BUSY DAY TOMORROW. YOU'D BETTER SHUT UP OR I'LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO YELL ABOUT!"  
  
           Harry didn't answer to this as he heard the sound of his uncle Vernon's footsteps getting softer. He was obviously going back to bed. He didn't ask what was wrong, why he was yelling, if he was hurt, or if he needed any help. The only reason that he came by was to yell at Harry and to threaten him. But Harry was used to this by now. He's been getting this kind of treatment for the past fourteen years of his life-even before he could remember. The reason he was treated like this is because he was very different from all other people in the world. He was a wizard. And the Dursleys, his aunt, uncle, and cousin hated him for it. They were what the wizards called muggles (no magic whatsoever). His aunt and uncle believed that everything should just be normal; in other words plain and boring. His cousin was just scared. He had always been the bully in his schools, so he definitely wasn't used to being scared. The reason he lived with the Dursleys and not with his own family is because Lord Voldemort, the most powerful wizard in a century, murdered his mother and father. Voldemort killed his father, and then moved to kill him, he failed however because his mother got in the way. After he killed Harry's parents, he moved to kill Harry with the same curse as he used on his parents, the avada kedavra, aka the killing curse. A curse he used to kill many before. However, because Harry's mother died to save his life, it left a special charm around him, which protected Harry form Voldemort's curse. The curse backfired, and broke Voldemort's power, and Harry instantly became famous. The only thing that the curse did to Harry was leave him with a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt; that was why Harry was so different, even in the wizarding world. After this, Harry was immediately taken and placed in the care of his aunt and uncle.  
  
            Harry continued to lie on the floor for a while, after his uncle left. He turned his head to his left and realized that he knocked over his glasses while he was going through his little tantrum. He put them on and looked upwards at his clock and saw what time it was. It was one ten in the morning. He got up and sat on his bed with his hand still clutched to his scar. He knew what this meant of course. His scar would only start to hurt when Voldemort was near him, or was in a very murderous rage. He got up and went to his window. He opened it up and looked outside. He shielded his eyes a bit as the lights from the street lamps darted directly into his tired eyes. He took a breath of fresh air and went back to his bed still leaving the window open. He sat on his bed trying to piece his thoughts together. He tried to think of why his scar hurt. He was pretty sure that Voldemort wasn't near him, so it could've only been one other thing. He must have killed someone. Killed? Yes, he did kill someone. He remembered someone being killed in his dream. But the strange thing was, that that was the only thing he remembered. He tried hard to retell himself what happened while he was asleep, but failed. He didn't understand. Why couldn't he remember what happened in his dream. Then another thought crossed his mind. Why did the scar hurt so much? And why did it hurt even after he was awake? He remembered, the only time his scar hurt that much was when Voldemort touched him, or used the cruciatus curse on him. Not when he was attacking someone else? Then a thought struck his head. What if, Voldemort is getting more powerful? That would explain a lot. Maybe that was the reason why Harry couldn't remember what he saw in his dream. Because Voldemort had somehow found a way to block his mind, but would that mean that Voldemort knew that Harry was watching? "Weird," said Harry in a low voice. "Oh, well, I'll never figure this out, there's no point thinking about it."  
  
            Harry knew he wasn't going to get any sleep for the rest of the night, "so, I might as well get some work done." The truth was that that was one of the only nights that Harry was able to fall asleep. After his last year, he hadn't been the same. He was always miserable, always sulking, always in a bad mood. But, he wasn't going to think about it. That was his plan for the entire summer. Not to think about anything. Not to get lost in thought, because he knew if he did, the first thing he'd start to think about would be his fourth year. And then he'd get even more miserable. Lucky for him, the Dursleys were able to help him with this (a first). As soon as his uncle Vernon was driving him back from the King's Cross train station, they got to talking. "Boy," his uncle started, "it has come to my attention that haven't been pulling your weight around the house." Harry didn't say anything. In fact he was barely even listening. All he could think about was what happened at the end of his fourth year. "So", his uncle continued, "When we get home [my home not your home] you are going to have some more responsibilities."  
  
            "Sure," Harry said in a melancholy voice.  
  
            "First off, you will be helping your aunt around the house more often," his uncle Vernon began.  
  
            "Fine," said Harry, as if he didn't care.  
  
            "Secondly, you will cook all the breakfasts from now on."  
  
            "Great."  
  
            "And thirdly, you will escort Dudley the gym everyday and see to it that he gets a good workout. Do you understand boy?"  
  
            At this statement, Harry couldn't help but look up at his uncle. "What?" Harry said disbelievingly.  
  
            "I would do it my self, but I'm very busy at the office," his uncle said immediately. His uncle owned a company that made drills. And at this time his company was doing quite well so he was usually not home. "And your aunt is very busy with other things," he ended matter of factly.  
  
            "Yeah, she was definitely busy with other things. Like spying on their neighbors," thought Harry. And he was as a matter of fact, right. His aunt was the nosiest person in the world. Sometimes Harry thought that the reason she had such a long neck was so that she could bring it over fences, and out of sides of windows-natural selection at work here. Of course Harry dared not say any of this in front of any of the Dursleys.  
  
            "Otherwise, we'd have done it ourselves," uncle Vernon added in.  
  
            This was the best thing that happened to Harry in all his summers. Now he had perfect distraction at all time. He'd wake up and make the breakfast [which wasn't too hard since Dudley was on a diet], he'd work out during the day, and clean the house when he came home. And any spare time that he had, he'd just do his homework.  
  
            And throughout his summer he kept to that plan. He never stopped keeping himself busy. Even after his entire body became sore from the workouts, he still continued, that way he thought he'd at least be able to concentrate on his pain to keep his mind off his previous year. Sure enough when he got home with Dudley, his aunt Petunia forced him to clean the house while she told her "poor little Dudley" to get some rest. Harry wasn't upset by this, he was already as upset as one could get. He knew that what he was doing was good because, at least this way he could stay sane, even if he was abusing his body. The one thing that he hadn't counted on was he not being able to fall asleep at night. He was sure that after a hard days work (a very hard days in his case), he'd be able to fall asleep. He was, of course wrong. During the first couple of weeks he kept his nights busy by doing homework. After he was finished with that, he just read other books. By now he memorized every single monster in "the monster book of monsters", every single spell and potion from all his other books, and, he even went as far a memorizing his divinations books. Divinations had been one of his least favorite classes, because the teacher, professor Trelawny, kept predicting his death every single lesson. By the end of the third year, he had come to the conclusion that she was a fake-except on a few occasions; one of them, was when she predicted that Voldemort would rise to power once again, which now had seemed to be coming true. Now that Harry was all out of schoolbooks to read, he decided to read muggle books. He read some of Dudley's old schoolbooks, which Dudley wasn't using. So far he read: "Chemistry for Beginners," one of Dudley's least favorite school books, "Human Anatomy," he noticed that the chapter on the reproductive system was opened many times due to the wide gap in the stitch in that chapter, and "American History". Obviously Smeltings thought that American History was important being that America was an ally of England. He thought that all those books were very interesting, and wondered why Hogwarts never taught them these subjects. Then he remembered how long it took him to finish all his Hogwarts homework during the school year and thought better of it. All the same, he still thought it a shame, especially when he remembered how oblivious his best friend Ron was to the muggle world. Now Harry was in the middle of reading "Origin of Species," by Charles Darwin, an assigned reading for Dudley's English class. He understood most of what he read and thought that it was an interesting theory. It made him start to think that maybe wizard and witches were the next step in human evolution. It was possible, Harry thought. Although wizard and witched were not a completely different species, they were obviously different from muggles, and some wizards and witches like his best friend Hermione came from muggle families. They must have evolved. One thing he was careful about was to never let his theory slip in front of his uncle Vernon and aunt Petunia, or else they'd do something to de-evolve him.  
  
            So Harry got out a flashlight and his book and continued to read from where he left off. As he started reading he heard something. It sounded like tapping. At first he dismissed it, thinking that it was his alarm clock ticking. As he continued to read he felt something on his elbow. It felt like a small needle pricking. He immediately looked down and noticed an owl lightly pecking at his elbow. The owl had gray and brown feathers, and a small pointy beak. "Finally," Harry thought. "This must be my letter from Hogwarts. It took them long enough." Harry usually got his letter from Hogwarts telling him when to return, and what books he'd need around the time of his birthday. Now it had been a while past that. For a short time Harry began to be worried that he was expelled. That maybe that article that Rita Skeeter wrote about him made the school governors, and the parents of the other Hogwarts students scared. He dismissed that thought in a hurry though, knowing that the headmaster of the school, Albus Dumbledore would never allow such a thing, and even if he did, Harry would surely get a letter telling him that he was expelled.  
  
            He opened the letter, and to his surprise, it wasn't a letter from Hogwarts. Instead it was a letter from one of his best friends from school, Hermione. It read:  
  
__

_Dear Harry,  
  
            How are things with you? I know that after what happened in school the very last thing that you would want would be to spend the entire summer with your relatives. But I'm sure that Dumbledore has his reasons for sending you back to your aunt and uncle. Anyway the reason I owled you is to invite you over to spend the rest of the summer at my house. I know that your original plan was to spend the summer at Ron's, so I talked to him about it and he thought that it was a great idea (we were sort of hanging out together during the first few weeks of summer). We'll spend our last weeks together and we'll meet Ron at diagon alley to collect our stuff, two days before we have to leave for school.  
  
            I mailed your aunt and uncle the muggle way and they should get it really soon, maybe they already got it. I'm sure that they will let you come.  
  
            Now I know that you do not want to stay at home for the rest of the summer, so don't bother owling me back.  
_  
            'Even in her letters she sounds bossy,' thought Harry.  
_  
            If they let you come I'll come to pick you up this Friday, and if they don't let you come, I'll still come to pick you up this Friday. I just sent them a letter to be courteous. Oh no, I'm beginning to act like Ron, I guess it was because we spent so much time together during the first few weeks of summer. Oh well, see you then.  
  
                                                                                                                         Love, Hermione  
  
            PS: I have been made a prefect, I got my letter two days after I sent you your birthday present. What about you?  
_  
            'What about me?' Thought Harry. 'I didn't even get a letter inviting me back. Could they really have expelled me? I mean, if Hermione already got her letter so long ago, then that must mean that I should've gotten it too. They send all the letters at the exact same time.' Harry sat for minute, getting even more depressed with every passing second. 'No, they couldn't have. Dumbledore wouldn't let them. They're probably taking extra precautions because of what happened last yea..'  
  
            "Oh, no. I have to stop," Harry said to himself as he put his hands on his head. "No I can't think about this now. NOOOOOOO!" Harry said raising his voice a little while shaking his head around as if he had a huge migraine. "It's not my fault, IT'S NOT MY FAULT." Harry started yelling. "I have to do something to get my mind off this," Harry said in a soft voice once again. "If I continue like this.. I'll.... go... crazy."  
  
            Harry slowly stumbled over to his door stopping in front of it to listen for any signs of the Dursleys. He put his ear up against the door and began to listen intently. After he heard nothing, he came to the conclusion that the Dursleys had still been asleep. He slowly opened his door, peered out to check if anyone was there [just in case]. After he saw that no one was there he made his way to enter the bathroom. He flicked the light switch on and began to look in the mirror. It had been a long time since he saw his reflection, but he was sure that what he saw had not been him. His body was definitely in better shape than before. He could see his biceps and chest muscles bulging through his pajamas. The bangs on his hair were straight because he was sweating that night. And his face seemed to be getting a little more rugged. But Harry didn't pay attention to any of those things. The big difference that he noticed was his eyes. Even though they were behind his glasses, he could tell that they were not the same as they had been before. The irises were exactly the same as they always were. They shone in a brilliant emerald green color. It was what was around the irises that had changed. Outside the irises Harry saw dozens of disgusting red cracks. This was obviously due to the sleep deprivation. They looked a lot like real cracks in his eyes, like his eyes were going to burst into tiny little pieces any second now. Around his eyes he saw two horrible looking black bags. But the biggest difference that he noticed was inside his pupils. Inside there used to be hope, spirit, and bravery. Now all he saw was death, a graveyard, an empty graveyard. It was as if he'd lost all will to live. And at that moment, he knew that he was not the same person that he used to be. He was a living dead man, or maybe a shell of a man would describe him better; but he was definitely not human anymore, he knew that much. By now he stopped thinking of his fourth year. He took his glasses off, turned the faucet on and washed his face a little. After he dried it and put his glasses back on, he looked in the mirror once more.  
  
            "I wonder what Ron and Hermione will think of me when they see me when they see me like this?" He thought out loud with a depressed voice. "Will they still remain friends with me? Maybe I should write Hermione telling her to forget about me coming over. Nah. She'd probably never accept that," Harry sighed. "I hope they're willing to accept me this way."  
  
            He turned off the light and quietly walked back to his room. He slowly slipped the door closed and walked over to his bed. He stood there for a second, he then moved over to the loose floorboard. He removed it and took out the presents that he received for his previous birthday. Ron sent him an old golden snitch, which at the time was useless being that he couldn't practice flying at the time. Hagrid sent him a book about how to breed dragons; Harry never even opened it yet. The weasely twins sent him a few of their of their new inventions. Obviously, they had reopened Weasley's Wizard's Wheezes without their mother noticing. And Hermione sent him a book full of advanced magical spells. He already memorized it, and decided that he'd try them out when he got to school.  
  
            He looked at them for a few minutes and then put them away. He took his flashlight and continued to read "the origin of species". As he read through the chapters, his gaze kept landing on the letter that he received from Hermione. It was true that he wanted to see her; he wanted to see any of his old friends. But he was scared of what they'd think of him.  
  
            He put down the book, took out some ink, a quill, and parchment and started to write on it.  
  
_Dear Hermione,  
  
            I would really like to come by and visit, and I know you told not to write back in your last letter, but I felt that I had to warn you.  
_  
            He stopped for a second. How was he supposed to explain how he felt to her, when he never even told her what happened to him during his third task of the triwizard tournament. "Oh well," Harry said to himself. He took the letter and trashed it.  
  
            He got back to reading his book; when before he even noticed it, it was morning.


	3. The Dinner Guests

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything in here. Just so you know.  
  
            Harry was surprised at the time. He felt like he had only been reading for a couple of minutes. However, according to the clock it was almost seven o'clock in the morning. Harry knew that if he did not make breakfast for the Dursleys in time, he would have to face a yelling uncle Vernon, a shrieking aunt Petunia, and a whining Dudley. By now, Harry knew that the Dursleys were definitely not morning people. And he also knew that Hermione's letter to the Dursleys was supposed to arrive any day now, and the only way his uncle would let him go was if he was in a good mood, which he usually wasn't, when he was around Harry.  
  
            Harry closed his book and turned off his flashlight, and placed both of them on the side of his desk. He got up out of his bed, stretched for a couple of seconds, walked over to his drawer and got out some clothes. He took those clothes and placed them neatly on his bed. He walked over to his drawer again, got out a towel, some soap, and shampoo. He started keeping his showering items in his room ever since Dudley replaced his shampoo with honey. He took the items and walked towards the bathroom. After a very quick cold shower, he brushed his teeth, got dressed and headed down towards the kitchen.  
  
            The second he got there; he immediately threw the frying pan out of the cupboard underneath the stove, turned on the stove and threw the frying pan onto the fire. He dabbed it with some cooking oil, and while it was getting heated up, he ran to the refrigerator, and got out three eggs. He cracked two of them and slipped them inside a bowl. He immediately began to beat them as fast as he could, as he saw that the pan was already heated up. He put a little salt and pepper in the bowl mixed some more and dropped the mixture into the frying pan. He stirred it for about three minutes until it was finally done. He slid the omelet out of the frying pan and onto a plate. He set the plate onto the table and quickly rushed to clean the frying pan. He washed it for about two minutes, dried it with some paper towels, and immediately put it back in the cupboard. He sat down by the table and quickly wolfed down the omelet. He cleaned the plate, dried it and put it back where it belonged. He went back to the refrigerator, pulled out an old grapefruit, put it on a plate and placed it on the table. Next, he took out three other plates, and placed them near three corresponding chairs. After that, he took out four cups, and placed them near four chairs. He then took out a container of orange juice and placed it in the center of the table, and turned the coffee maker on. Finally, he took out another cup and he put a little bit of water in it, he then cracked the third egg open and he slipped the yolk inside the cup. He stirred it with a spoon, and placed it near a different cup. He got out a knife and sliced the grapefruit in four, and placed three slices on the rest of the plates. There, he was now done.  
  
            He sat down and turned on the TV that the Dursleys had in the kitchen. As he flipped the channels, he came by the news, which had something very interesting on. He left that channel on and sat down to watch it. The reporter was near a museum where apparently a robbery had just taken place. "It appears that there was no forced entry, nothing broken, and the cameras had not been touched," the reporter was saying. "However, there does appear to be something missing, the police have not allowed us entry inside the museum as of yet, since they're still inside investigating. Once they are finished their investigation they will allow us to witness the area where the crime took place, and they might even comment about what happened. We'll keep you posted. This is Ervin Bleiss, Channel 23 news." Harry walked up to the TV and turned it off hearing someone opening a door upstairs. He looked down at the table and realized that he'd forgotten the knives and forks. He ran to the drawer as he heard someone coming down the steps. He got out the utensils and spread them around the table. He looked towards the stairs and noticed that it was Dudley stomping down the steps. He slumped over to the TV, turned it on, changed the channel to his favorite morning cartoon show and sat down by the biggest piece of grapefruit he saw. He sat there for a second glaring at it as he did every morning. Dudley had been as fat then as he had been the previous year. It seems that the only thing this diet has done for him, was stop him from gaining weight, which his parents were of course very proud of; even though they were getting countless notes from smeltings about it. As Dudley was glaring at his meager meal, the rest of the Dursleys came down stairs. Harry's uncle Vernon, a blond beefy man with a huge mustache, and his aunt Petunia, a bony horse-faced woman with a really long neck. His uncle sat down by the table, as his aunt poured both of them some coffee, and orange juice. The second after Vernon had a sip off coffee, he started glaring at Harry. "Boy!" He exclaimed. "Go get the mail. And you better not open any off it."  
  
            Harry rolled his eyes and headed towards the front door. Sure enough the mail was here already. Harry picked it up and started to browse through it. There were two bills, and a letter. The letter was from none other than Hermione. He was about to open it, but thought better of it. "Hurry up boy!!!" His uncle yelled from the kitchen. He walked back to the kitchen and dropped the letters in front of is uncle. "I say boy, you're even slower than molasses," his uncle said angrily.  
  
            "And another thing," his aunt added, as Dudley took his attention from the TV, and set on Harry. "The next time you feel like having yourself a good yell, take it outside, do you understand!"  
  
            "I'm sorry." Harry responded nonchalantly.  
  
            "Don't be sorry," his uncle started up. "Any idiot can be sorry. Just don't do it again. Got it!" He said placing a big emphasis on the 'got it', as if he were saying 'or else'.  
  
            "Yes uncle Vernon." replied Harry in the same nonchalant way.  
  
             "Good."  
  
            "Say," Dudley started. "How many eggs did you put in here?" he said as he looked down the cup which Harry put the egg with water.  
  
             "Three," Harry answered. "Go on, drink up, it will give you a lot of energy for the gym today."  
  
             "Dudleykins isn't going to that nasty little disgusting place today," aunt Petunia started in. "He has been working so hard lately, I feel that he needs a bit of a rest. Besides, we have to go into London today to pick up some new clothes for him, and."  
  
             "BOY!!!" Yelled uncle Vernon before aunt Petunia could finish. "What is this?!" He said showing Harry the letter that Hermione sent him.  
  
            Harry took the letter, and started reading it.  
  
            Dear Mr. Dursley  
  
            I am a very old friend of Harry. I knew him when we were in grade school together. I am mailing you to ask if Harry can spend the rest of the summer at my house, so we could catch up on old times. Don't worry I'll take very good care of him. Unless there's a problem, which would result in Harry not being able to come (in which case you should mail me), I'll pick Harry up on Friday at 11:00 am.  
  
                                                                                    Sincerely  
  
                                                                                    Hermione Granger  
  
            "Well?" Asked Harry. "Can I go?"  
  
             "Dudley," said uncle Vernon starting to face Dudley. "Do you remember a Hermione Granger at your old school?"  
  
            Dudley just shrugged his shoulders, signifying that he didn't remember.  
  
            "She was in all the advanced classes," Harry immediately jumped in. "So I don't think Dudley ever saw her."  
  
             "Granger, I swear I could remember that name from somewhere," his uncle Vernon said as he was starting to think. "But where?"  
  
            "I remember Vernon," his aunt Petunia jumped in. "Mr. Granger. The dentist. Remember. We took Dudley to see him when he started teething."  
  
            "Oh yeah," uncle Vernon remembered. "Bit of a weird fellow as I remember. Okay boy you can go," he continued turning his attention back to Harry. "But only on the condition, that you promise to stay at that school of yours for winter and spring break."  
  
            "I always stay at Hog-at my school for the breaks." Harry answered sounding bored.  
  
            "Don't get smart with me boy!" his uncle Vernon snarled at him.  
  
             "Sorry." said Harry as he looked across the table at Dudley, who seemed to be very happy. Harry felt that the only reason that his uncle Vernon let him go was to give Dudley an excuse to stop going to the gym. But he didn't care, as long as he could get away from the Dursleys; that was all that mattered to him at the moment.  
  
            The next few days went by pretty slow. Harry spent most of his time doing what he has been doing all summer: Working out, cleaning, and reading. He finished reading "the Origin of Species" a day after the letter came. After he finished that book, he started reading the book that Hagrid had sent him for his birthday. It seemed to be very boring, but sadly, there was nothing else to read.  
  
            Finally Friday came. Uncle Vernon, aunt Petunia, and Dudley had been sitting in the living room while Harry was upstairs reading Hagrid's book. Harry looked at his clock and realized that it was fifteen minutes till eleven. Knowing how punctual Hermione was, Harry knew that she would be there any minute now. Harry put his book in his trunk (which was already packed) and started to carry it downstairs. By the time he got all his things-that is the trunk, broomstick, and Hedwig's cage; it was ten minutes till eleven. Harry sat down on the steps waiting for the impending arrival of Hermione.  
  
            "Your friend better not keep us waiting boy," uncle Vernon growled. "She'd better be more punctual than those people who came."  
  
            But before uncle Vernon could finish the sentence, he heard a knock o the door.  
  
             "Doesn't your friend know how to use a doorbell?" His uncle Vernon said as Dudley got up to answer it. "I guess they didn't teach her those things in those advanced classes of hers." Uncle Vernon ended laughing at his own joke.  
  
            Dudley was obviously very curious to know whom this old friend of Harry's was, or else he'd never volunteer to get the door. For all he knew, Harry never had any friends while they were in school together. As Dudley approached the door the, Harry could hear knocking again. "Coming!" Dudley yelled. He unlocked the door and swung it open. And as soon as he saw the person behind, all he did was open his mouth, and leave it that way. For about twenty seconds Dudley just stood there mouth open not saying anything.  
  
            "Hello, you must be Dudley?" Harry heard a voice that sounded exactly like Hermione's coming from outside the house.  
  
            Dudley just stood there not saying anything.  
  
            "Uh, can I come in?" Asked the voice.  
  
            "Uh huh." Dudley said as he stupidly nodded, and stepped out of the way.  
  
             Hermione came in followed by her father. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, it is a pleasure to finally meet you." Hermione said pretending to be polite.  
  
            "Hello," growled uncle Vernon. "I take it you'll be leaving right away?" he said hopefully.  
  
            "Yes," answered Hermione's father, giving uncle Vernon a huge glare. Obviously Hermione told him all about uncle Vernon. "If that's what you want."  
  
            Harry got up from his step and walked toward where Hermione and her father were standing. As soon as he turned the corner, he found out why Dudley hadn't been able to talk. Hermione definitely did not look like she always looked. Her hair was dyed blond, she had a ton of eye shadow on, she was wearing low cut jeans and a tank top, and to top it off she was wearing high heels. Whoever this person was, it couldn't have been Hermione; but Harry knew it was, from the sound of her voice.  
  
            Harry and Mr. Granger greeted each other, shook hands, and began to take his trunk outside to the car. Hermione followed carrying Hedwig's cage and Harry's broomstick looking a little eager for something. In fact she looked so eager that she didn't even notice uncle Vernon giving her a suspicious, and curious look when she didn't ask about the broom and cage.

            As soon as Harry and Mr. Granger loaded Harry's trunk into the car, Hermione put down Harry's stuff and jumped on Harry giving him a huge hug. "Oh Harry, I've missed you ever so much!" She said as she tightened her grip around him. He was a bit surprised, even more surprised than when he first saw her that day. Before, she had been away from him for even longer periods of time, and she never had a reaction like this.  
  
            "Um, thanks," Harry replied, not knowing what else to say. "I've missed you too." He added looking her straight in the face.  
  
            As soon as they met each other's eyes Hermione immediately let go and turned away as if she was completely shocked. Harry didn't notice the look on her face turn from a smile to a frown.  
  
            "So, uh, you're probably wondering why I look like this," Hermione began trying to make conversation as her father went back in to get the last of Harry's stuff (Harry forgot to mention that he didn't have anything else). "You don't have to worry, this isn't my new look or anything. I just did this so your uncle Vernon wouldn't recognize me. I know he doesn't take any interest in what your friends look like, but I still thought it best to be prepared, just in case."  
  
            'That was Hermione all right,' thought Harry. 'Always prepared for anything.'  
  
            "So." Hermione continued, "How was your holiday?"  
  
            "The same." Harry answered in a low voice.  
  
            "You look like you've really been working out." Hermione said, feeling Harry's muscles.  
  
            "A little." Harry said, obviously not making this to be anything big.  
  
            "Well, it really shows," Hermione continued looking for something else to say. "You really look great." She added smiling nervously.  
  
             "Thanks." Said Harry looking back towards the door, wondering what was taking Hermione's father so long. "Do you think we should go see what's holding your dad up?" Harry asked after around two minutes of silence.  
  
            "Nah," Hermione answered casually. "He's probably just boring them with oral hygiene advice."  
  
            Just at that moment Hermione's father walked out the door and started to face both Harry and Hermione in a melancholy way.  
  
             "What's wrong dad?" Hermione asked the moment she saw the look on his face.  
  
            "They weren't being mean to you or anything?" Asked Harry in tone signifying he knew that they were.  
  
            "No, no nothing like that," Mr. Granger quickly answered. "Its just, well."  
  
            "What? What is it?" Hermione asked looking extremely curious.  
  
            "Well, you see, we were invited to stay for dinner," Mr. Granger began. "And I kind of, accepted." Mr. Granger finished quickly seeing Hermione's shocked face, and Harry's unamused face.  
  
            "Well, can't you just say that we can't." Hermione immediately spoke up. "Say that we have something important to do, or that you have some meeting to get to." Hermione continued, obviously getting desperate.  
  
            "No, I already told them, that we were free for today," Mr. Granger sadly answered. "Before we were invited of course", he added immediately.  
  
            "What about your self-paging beeper!" Hermione immediately brought up. "Just say you have an emergency at the office, that one of your patients is having a problem with the teeth that you installed for him or her."  
  
            "Sorry, I left that, along with my real pager, and cellular phone at home to charge. Looks like we're stuck doing this dinner."  
  
            "Why don't you just say that we don't want to?" Hermione said already starting to get irritated.  
  
             "Because that wouldn't be nice."  
  
            "So, they're not nice people. Sorry Harry."  
  
            "That's okay," said Harry. "I agree with you."  
  
            "Well, we don't want to act like them, do we now?" Mr. Granger said in a victorious tone.  
   
            "Ughh, I guess not." Hermione answered in a sigh as if she was defeated.  
  
             "What's really curious," Harry spoke up while the Grangers turned to him. "Is why would the Dursleys invite you guys to dinner. They never invite anyone, except relatives, or people whom my uncle Vernon could suck up to. Do you think that my uncle Vernon recognized you?" Harry asked looking at Hermione.  
  
            "No, no," said Mr. Granger in an amused tone. "It was the young man who invited us to stay. His parents seemed to be against it."  
  
            "Oh no!" Hermione gasped. Obviously, she knew what this was all about. "He probably only invited us so he could hit on me."  
  
            At that Mr. Granger broke into a huge belly laugh.  
  
            "And what is so funny?" Hermione snapped.  
  
             "Hermione, dear, you have got to get over yourself," Mr. Granger answered, trying to regain control of himself. "I seriously doubt that's it."  
  
            "What do you mean? Didn't you see the way he looked at me, when he saw me?"  
  
            "No." Said Mr. Granger blank-faced.  
  
             "Harry," Hermione immediately turned to him. "You saw him didn't you? You saw the way he looked at me?"  
  
            "Uh, I guess I did?" Harry answered not knowing what else to say.  
  
            "See." Hermione said looking at her father victoriously.  
  
            "Well, it doesn't matter either way. If we refuse we might get Harry into trouble with his cousin." Mr. Granger stated matter of factly. "Just try and put up with it for Harry's sake." He finished pointing towards Harry.  
  
            "Dad, we can't stay, I don't know when the potion will wear off," Hermione said getting desperate. "What if it wears off during dinner, and Mr. Dursley recognizes me from King's Cross Station? We'll be in trouble then, won't we?"  
  
             "Potion, what potion?" Harry immediately broke into the conversation.  
  
            "It's a potion that Mrs. Weasely gave me," Hermione answered him. "It changes your hair color. Although, you should always be careful when using it, because if you don't use it in the right doses, it could change your hair into freaky colors, or cause it to fall out. But don't worry," Hermione quickly added in when she saw that Harry was shocked for the first time today. "With the miniscule amounts that I used, there's no way that anything like that will happen. However, because I used such a small amount, the potion might wear off soon."  
  
            "I thought you told me that the potion will last at least two to three days?" Mr. Granger said shrewdly.  
  
            "Did I?" Hermione asked nervously.  
  
            "Yes you did. Right after I asked you if it was safe for you to put that stuff on your head. I remember what you said very clearly. And I believe it was, and I quote: 'Don't worry dad, this potion is completely harmless, and the effects will wear off in at least two days, three days tops'. That was what you said, wasn't it?" Asked Mr. Granger even more shrewdly.  
  
             "Something like that." Hermione answered once again feeling defeated.  
  
            "OY!!!" Yelled a voice so loud that made all three of them look towards it. "Are you going to stand there until dinner is ready, or are you going come inside?" The voice belonged to none other than Harry's uncle Vernon. "Well are you coming in? I'm not going to wait out here all day you know."  
  
            "Still as loudmouthed as when I saw him at King's Cross", Hermione uttered under her breath. "Alright, let's just get this over with." She said in a voice loud enough for Harry and her father to hear. And the three of them walked back inside the house.  
  
            "Took you long enough," uncle Vernon snarled as they walked past him inside the house. "What were you doing outside for so long anyways?"  
  
            "Oh, we were just having trouble, opening the hood of the car," Mr. Granger lied. "You see, it's a very old car, and the parts are a little rusted".  
  
            "Oh really," gleamed uncle Vernon. "Well I think in that case maybe it's time for a new one, don't you agree? I could show you what my car looks like if you want, you know, for a little inspiration, and advice in the type of car you should get." Uncle Vernon began to boast. Ever since he received his new company car that year, he's been looking for any excuse at all to show it off in front of people.  
  
            "Yes, that would be lovely." Mr. Granger said swallowing his pride.  
  
            "Well then, follow me!" said uncle Vernon sounding like he's really trying hard to help out a friend.  
  
            A few hours later while uncle Vernon and aunt Petunia were busy boring the life out of Mr. Granger in the kitchen, Harry, Hermione, and Dudley were sitting on the couch watching one of Dudley's favorite TV shows. Dudley was sitting on the right side of the couch, getting a glance at Hermione whenever he could. Harry [who was forced to by Hermione] sat in the middle looking extremely bored. And Hermione was sitting on the left side feeling completely repulsed whenever she caught Dudley looking at her.  
  
            "So, uh Hermione," Dudley began to make conversation. "Uh, I hear that you went to school with Harry and me?"  
  
             Hermione just grunted signifying a yes.  
  
            "Yeah, so, I never saw you before; where have you been hiding all this time?" Dudley continued trying to act smooth.  
  
             Hermione gave him one those 'you've gotta be kidding me' looks, and was about to answer, when she was interrupted by Harry.  
  
            "How would you know her, you never bothered to meet anyone from the advanced classes?" Harry said trying to tip Hermione off about how he told his relatives that Hermione was in all the advanced classes. From the look on her face, Harry could see that she got it.  
  
            "Well that's true, but I should've at least seen her around the hallway." Dudley said looking at Hermione again.  
  
            "Well, I guess must have just been fate that we never met Dudley." Hermione said hoping he'd get the hint.  
  
            "But we've met now." Dudley replied obviously not getting it.  
  
            "Can we change the channel, this is boring!" Hermione said in a very irritated manner.  
  
            "Sure, whatever you like." Dudley said as he handed her the remote control. She quickly snatched it from his hand, getting the feeling that he was going to try something. She turned to Harry asked him what he'd like to watch in a much sweeter voice.  
  
            "I don't really care." Harry answered. It had been such an unusual question for him, that he didn't know any other way to answer it.  
  
            "Well, I'll just flip the channels around, and you tell me where you want me to stop, OK?"  
  
            "OK." Harry replied in a nonchalant way.  
  
             Hermione didn't even get through four channels when Harry asked her to stop.  
  
            A news reporter was in the middle saying something. "We have received Conformation of the object that had been stolen a few nights ago," said the reporter on TV. "It seems that the only thing stolen was a mysterious ruby red sphere with markings all over it. According to researchers, these markings are only for decoration, for they do not match any known language on earth. Other than that, not much else is known about this particular object. The police are completely baffled by this mystery. It seems that this crook has left absolutely no evidence that he was even there. He probably could have stolen many other much more expensive artifacts, but obviously neglected to. We'll keep you posted on any further developments, reporting live this is Ervin Bleiss, channel 23 news."  
  
             "Weird." Harry said as he cupped his chin.  
  
            "Yeah." Hermione agreed a she lowered the volume.  
  
            "Uh, I know." said Dudley trying to get Hermione's attention, which he didn't.  
  
            At dinner Hermione was stuck sitting between Dudley and his father. When she first saw that they were moving in around her, she tried to make a break for it, in order to go and sit next to Harry, but the look on her father's face told her she'd better sit still.  
  
             Throughout the entire dinner uncle Vernon did what he liked doing more than anything: complaining. He would complain about something whenever he got the chance. His most usual complaint was Harry, but since he was in the presence of one of Harry's friends, he chose a different subject. This time it was traffic lights.  
  
            "I'm telling you, people, those green lights do not last long enough!"  
  
            "I so agree!" Harry's aunt Petunia joined in.  
  
            "You know what I think. I think that the Government makes them that way on purpose. You're just driving around, minding your own business, and then when you least expect it, poof, the light just switches on you!" Uncle Vernon was saying while trying to fit a piece of steak in his mouth.  
  
            "Yes that's right!" Aunt Petunia once again agreeing with her husband.  
  
            "And then, by sheer coincidence a police officer stops you and gives you a ticket. You know what I say, I say that those so called police officers are somehow controlling those traffic lights; just so they can squeeze money out of hard working people like myself!" Uncle Vernon ended his little speech by banging his fist on the table, immediately waking Mr. Granger up (who was asleep because he had already been bored to death by the Dursleys during the day).  
  
            "Oh, ah right I completely agree." said Mr. Granger, who had absolutely no idea what uncle Vernon was talking about.  
  
            "I knew you would!" gloated uncle Vernon looking extremely self- satisfied. "Anyways, where was I, Oh yes..."  
  
            While uncle Vernon continued his extremely boring speech, Dudley started trying to talk to Hermione again. "So, uh Hermione, where do you go now?" He started.  
  
            "Well, first tell me where you go." Hermione said not turning to him.  
  
            "I go to smeltings academy, the same school as my dad." Dudley answered with pride.  
  
            "Yeah, and I bet you spend more time in the cafeteria, than you do in classes." Hermione said under her breath.  
  
            "I'm sorry?" Dudley said leaning in to hear better.  
  
            "I said, 'that's wonderful'." Hermione answered giving him a fake smile.  
  
            "So, uh do you want to do something sometime, uh I mean with me?" Dudley asked obviously very nervous.  
  
            "Sorry, I can't I'm very busy." Hermione answered him, pretending to be sad.  
  
            "Oh really? Well, with what?" Dudley asked curiously.  
  
            "Well, there's homework, and uh...." Hermione started to try to think of something else. And when she couldn't, she just ended with "You know stuff."  
  
            "Oh, what kind of stuff?" Dudley continued.  
  
            'This guy is really thick!' thought Hermione, who was already getting extremely agitated. She conformed her face into a smile and answered, "Well, for starters, I want to show Harry a good time before he heads off to school. Say, uh, what school does Harry go to? Out of curiosity?"  
  
            "Uh, he goes to uh, to St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurable Criminal Boys." Dudley answered, adding more gleam to every word.  
  
             "Really?" Hermione growled.  
  
            "Yeah!" Dudley answered as he began to chuckle a bit.  
  
             Hermione immediately got up, asked if she could get some fresh air, and left before anyone gave her an answer.  
  
             Hermione stepped outside the house, took a very long deep breath, released it, and began to lean against the house. "I knew Harry's relatives were bad, but I never expected them to be this horrible. Weird, why would Dumbledore insist on having Harry stay with them?" Hermione began talking to herself, but stopped as she saw someone passing by.  
  
            "Hello, young lady." an old woman stopped in front of her and began to smile a bit. "My name is Mrs. Figg, are you a friend of Dudley's?"  
  
            "No." Hermione answered with a hint of disgust. "I'm an old friend of Harry's."  
  
            "Oh, that's nice. You know I used to baby sit Harry when he was younger."  
  
             "Really?" Hermione asked as she looked up at her quizzically.  
  
            "Yes, whenever, they went on family trips, carnivals, and to social gatherings. I'm really sorry about Harry's problem."  
  
             Hermione knew that she was going to be sorry for asking, but "What problem?"  
  
            "Oh, you mean you don't know?" Mrs. Figg looked down at her oddly. "Well, his uncle told me that he has a small case of agoraphobia. That's why he was doing so poorly at school."  
  
            "It was very nice meeting you, but I think I'll go back inside now." Hermione quickly said, knowing that if she stayed out with Mrs. Figg any longer, she'd find out some of the other rumors that the Dursleys were passing around about Harry; and the last thing she needed was another reason to be mad at them. She did all she could not turn them into frogs as it was. If she heard anything else, she might not be able to control herself.  
  
            When she stepped back into the house, she saw Harry and Mr. Granger heading towards her, obviously getting ready to leave. 'At last!' She thought to herself.  
  
            "Well good bye then," uncle Vernon yelled from across the room. "You can keep the boy as long as you want!" He added just before leaving for the kitchen.  
  
            Harry and Mr. Granger exited the house and before Hermione got the chance to follow them, out of nowhere Dudley appeared in front of her. "Well Hermione," Dudley began, his pink face getting even pinker. "I just wanted to say good bye."  
  
            'Man, for a fat boy, he sure knows how to hide.' Hemione thought. "Good bye then." she replied trying to side step around Dudley.  
  
            "Do you think we'll ever see each other again?" Dudley asked looking hopeful.  
  
            "No I doubt it." Answered Hermione looking disgusted.  
  
            "Uh, well, can I call you sometime?" Dudley asked still not getting the fact that Hermione couldn't stand being around him.  
  
            "Oh, sorry, we had our telephone disconnected about a week ago." Hermione quickly said the first thing that came to her mind. "That's why I told your dad to mail me back with an answer in my letter, instead of giving him my phone number. We should be getting a new connection soon, but we won't know our new number until then. Sorry." She tried to side step him again, but Dudley moved in the same direction.  
  
            "Well then can I write you?"  
  
            "I'm going to be in school, remember?"  
  
            "Oh yeah. What school do you go to, I'll write you there."  
  
            "OK, you really want to know?" Hermione growled, getting more annoyed at Dudley's ignorance. "I go, to St. Helen's Secure Center for Incurable Criminal Girls!" She stopped, and noticing the shocked look on Dudley's pink face, she continued, "That's where I really know Harry from. St. Helen's is across the lake of St. Brutus's. I swam across the lake one night and that's how I met Harry!"  
  
            "But, but that's impossible!" Dudley started.  
  
            Before he could continue Hermione interrupted him. "Why, is it because Harry doesn't really go to St. Brutus's?" At this point Hermione was very angry, but was able to keep her voice at a volume that only Dudley could hear.  
  
            "Wha-wha-what are you talking about?" Dudley asked getting a little scared.  
  
            "You still don't get it, do you? Well let me spell it out for you. I go to the same school as Harry: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."  
  
            At this Dudley's pink face turned completely white. He tried to call for his mother, but Hermione covered his mouth with her hand before he could.  
  
            "And if you tell anyone!" Hermione whispered in a threatening manner while letting go of Dudley's mouth. "I'll turn you into a dung beetle and squash you, got it!"  
  
            "You, c-can't," Dudley stuttered. "You-you're not al-llowed to use magic on summer holiday, you'll get expelled."  
  
            "I may not be able to use magic now, but I can use it during winter, and spring break. If I find out that you told anyone, I'll come looking for you here or at that school of yours. And speaking of magic, from now on, there are going to be some changes around here. As soon as Harry gets home from school you will act nice to him. You will help him with the housework, and stop your lousy parents from bullying him. And if I see, hear, or even think that you or anyone else in this house is being rude to Harry when he comes back, you'll be very sorry. I may not be able to use magic during the summer, but my friends Fred and George are. You remember Fred and George, don't you?"  
  
            Dudley nervously shook his head.  
  
            "The ones who made your tongue grow last year," when Hermione saw Dudley's eyes getting wider she continued. "They'll be graduating this year, and thereby they'll be allowed to use magic anytime they want. And between you and me, they don't like you, or your parents that much, and I'm sure if I asked them to, they'd use their powers to make your life extremely miserable. GOT IT!" She ended poking Dudley in the chest.  
  
            When she saw Dudley nervously nod, she said "good", and pushed him out of the way, and headed out the door. She grabbed the door handle, and before closing it she gave Dudley one more leer. She pulled the door closed, took a deep breath and headed towards the car. She opened the door to the back seat and saw that Harry was already sitting there. She asked Harry to move over so she could sit down and he obliged. As she was getting in, her father asked her what kept her so long.  
  
            "Oh, I was just having a heart to heart with Dudley," Hermione answered in her most innocent voice.  
  
            "You didn't threaten him did you?" her father looked suspiciously at her.  
  
            "Of course not, why would I ever want to do such a horrible thing," Hermione answered (sounding even more innocent) as she sat down and closed the door. "Well, let's get going."  
  
            "OK!" Mr. Granger replied. He turned on the engine, stepped on the gas pedal, and drove off, leaving number four Privet drive behind.


	4. Olivea det'Rugh Mortsdam

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter  
  
A/n: I'm sorry if any of you get confused from when the characters are thinking, or talking since they're both in quotes. I originally tried to put the thoughts in italics, but half of them didn't show up on Fanfiction.net. So instead, I put them in quotes. I still use italics to emphasize something, but I try to keep it at a minimum (cause it's a real headache)  
  
PS- I'm sorry if I'm a little comma happy.  
  
Mr. Granger drove for about an hour, a completely silent hour. Harry didn't feel like talking much, and Hermione, who saw this, was willing to oblige.  
  
"Hermione", Harry spoke up after being silent for about an hour.  
  
Hermione looked at Harry concernedly and asked him what was up. "Well, what is it"? She asked in a worried voice, after he hadn't answered her the first time.  
  
Harry thought about telling her what happened on the night he received her owl asking [or rather telling] him to come over; about how he was awakened by an immense pain, which persisted for about a minute after he awoke; about the dream, which he couldn't remember for the life of him. But "Thanks" was the only thing that could come out of his mouth. This was his burden to bear, there was no sense getting her involved in this as well. The very last thing that he wanted was for another person to end up in the same position as himself.  
  
"For what"? Hermione asked him, knowing that, that was not what Harry really wanted to tell her.  
  
"For going through all that trouble just to get me out of that place", Harry answered giving her a fake smile.  
  
"It was really nothing", Hermione replied blushing a bit. "I'm sure you would've done the same thing for me, wouldn't you"?  
  
"Yeah, I guess", Harry said, while turning to face the window. "Where do you live anyway"?  
  
"Oh it's not much further". Mr. Granger answered for his daughter; completely surprising Harry who forgot that Hermione's dad was in the car with them. "Just a couple of more minutes". After a minute of silence Mr. Granger spoke up again. "Are you ready to have fun Harry"?  
  
"Yeah, I guess", Harry answered gloomily, still staring out the window. Sensing the tone in Harry's voice both Hermione and her father just stayed silent for the last few minutes of the trip.  
  
By the time they arrived at the Granger residence, it was nearly nine o'clock. Harry, and Mr. Granger carried Harry's trunk inside the house while Hermione once again carried Harry's broom and Hedwig's cage.  
  
They entered the living room, and relieved themselves of their burdens, as Harry and Mr. Granger dropped Harry's trunk on the floor, and Hermione put his broom and cage next to his trunk. Mr. Granger jumped on the couch looking extremely tired, while Harry just stood there looking like he always did. Obviously, working non-stop this summer had given Harry a great boost in stamina.  
  
"Say Harry"? Hermione started with curiosity in her voice. "What ever happened to Hedwig? I notice that she's not in her cage".  
  
Harry turned to her not saying anything. He stared at her for a minute looking as if he were sizing her up. "Should I tell her where I sent her", thought Harry. "Nah, I'll tell her when I get the answer".  
  
"I sent her away to deliver a very important letter someone", Harry answered after a minute.  
  
"Are you telling me the truth"? Hermione questioned with a hint of doubt on her face.  
  
"Of course", Harry replied nonchalantly. "At least it's part of the truth", he thought to himself.  
  
"Ok", Hermione said. She was still disbelieving, but decided to let it go. It was really none of her business, and plus, Hermione knew that if it was something really important, Harry would tell her. "Shall I show you to your room"? She began to change the subject.  
  
"Ok", Harry said just as Mr. Granger got up, ready for another round with Harry's trunk.  
  
They arrived at Harry's room put the trunk near the bed, his broomstick in the closet, and placed Hedwig's cage on a stool.  
  
"Well, how do you like it", Hermione asked rather nervously, hoping to get a good approval from Harry.  
  
"It's great", Harry replied as he looked around the room. "It's…  
  
"Well, we'll leave you alone to get better acclimated with the place", Mr. Granger interrupted. "If you want to go to the bathroom, it's out the hallway, to the left, two doors down on your left side. Better get a lot of sleep, you have a very busy day tomorrow".  
  
"Uh, wait", Harry burst out as a thought crossed his mind. "Shouldn't I meet Mrs. Granger first"?  
  
"Oh, that's right I forgot to tell you", Hermione said slapping her forehead for forgetting. "My mum is away visiting my ill Grandma".  
  
"Oh, sorry", Harry said looking down.  
  
"Don't worry about it", Hermione said reassuringly. "She'll be back in a couple of days, and you can meet her then. Right now you should better take care of yourself. Well see ya tomorrow". And she and Mr. Granger left the room, leaving Harry thinking.  
  
"Take better care of myself", Harry began. "What does she mean by that? Has she already noticed how much I've changed? Yeah", he thought moving over to the window across his bed. "That's probably why she flinched when she saw me for the first time".  
  
Harry's moment in thought was interrupted by some kind of tapping. He looked around, and realized that the tapping was coming from the other window near his bed. He walked over quietly, moved the window shades aside and realized that it was Hedwig. He immediately opened the window in order to let her inside. She flew across the room and landed on top of her cage. Harry quickly dashed over to his owl as if he was expecting something really important from her.  
  
"Well, did you deliver it", Harry asked looking down at Hedwig.  
  
She lifted her head up and hooted in a delightful manner, which signified a yes.  
  
"Did, you get anything from them", Harry asked bending down to get a closer look on her leg. When he saw that nothing was there he began to get a little worried. "I don't get it, nothing at all", Harry said starting to get frustrated. He started pacing around the room wondering what he should do. It was times like this that Harry wished that the wizarding world used telephones.  
  
After about twenty minutes of pacing Harry decided not to think about it anymore, he let Hedwig back into her cage, got undressed, put on his pajamas, and climbed into bed. He took his glasses off, turned off the light and hoped that he would be able to get some sleep that night.  
  
After about two hours of tossing and turning, Harry finally gave up. He got out of bed, kicked open his trunk and took out the book that Hagrid gave him. By now the book was very interesting. At first the book just started out with the many different mistakes that you could make while trying to raise a baby dragon. Then it got into what to do when the dragon reaches adolescence. It was almost as boring as Professor Binns History of magic class. Now however, the book started talking about the many uses the dragon has to the wizarding world. It explained the differences between all types of dragons, and how those particular characteristics aided with making all sorts of different particular things.  
  
At that moment he was reading about the Bulgarian Blower. The Blower's special characteristics were: it's ruby colored skin and it's ability to shoot fire up to one hundred feet. It was able to shoot so far because its lungs could hold in more air than any other Dragon on earth, thereby making it one of the most dangerous dragons on earth. Its only weakness seemed to be the cold, and if it stayed in the cold too long, its crimson skin would start turning blue, and it would die. It continued saying that when the dragon reached maturity, wizards would remove one of its lungs. This didn't kill it, but it greatly reduced the dragon's firing range. The lung would be cut up, and used in many extremely rare and important potions. An example would be cardisiolos, which was able to cure mortal heart wounds, and clear the arteries of any cholesterol. Another potion, vacilarias increased your body's production of stem cells, which could repair even neurological damage.  
  
Harry was so into the book by now, that he didn't notice that the next page had a picture of a Hungarian Horntail, nor did he notice its name underneath the picture. If he'd noticed it, then he would've probably turned to a different page, or closed the book. However, he wasn't so lucky. He slowly started reading, quickening his pace with every word. So far, the book used the words "This Particular Dragon", whenever referring to the horntail. This dragon was more interesting than any of the others he'd read about so far. The book discussed, the many uses of the dragon's horned skin, and it's teeth. Every word that Harry read stayed in his mind. It was as if there was a small locked room in his brain, which was unlocked in order to receive this particular information. He continued reading, memorizing every single word that he read. That was until he came across two dreadful words: "Hungarian Horntail". Harry immediately slammed the book closed, and threw it on the other side of his bed.  
  
Harry sat on the side of his bed trying to think about something else, anything else. But he couldn't, the information on the Horntail was the only thing that was on his mind. He tried desperately to forget, but couldn't. He got up and started pacing around, hoping a new thought would come into his mind. He paced up and down for about two minutes, hoping he could think of something else, pleading his brain to think of something else; but it wouldn't, the only thoughts in his head were: "The Horntail, The Tasks, The Tournament, The Third Task, Voldemort". And then he heard a voice, the voice that has been haunting him all summer. He didn't know or cared whom the voice belonged to; all he knew and cared about was what it said. "It's all your fault", the voice slowly began in a low whisper. "It's all your fault", the voice repeated a little louder. "It's all your fault…It's all your fault…It's all your fault", the voice kept repeating getting louder and louder each time.  
  
"NOOOO"!!! Harry yelled grabbing his head. "I… COULDN'T… DO… ANYTHING"!!! By now Harry was on his knees shaking his head around harder than ever. "IT… ISN'T… MY… FAUUUUUUUUULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLTTTTTTT"!!!!!!!!! At that moment the voice started laughing, as if it were laughing at Harry's suffering. The pitch of the laughter grew higher, and higher. "NOOOOOOOO"!!!!!!!!!!! Harry yelled holding his head tighter than ever; he felt that it would mentally split in two if he let go.  
  
At that moment the door burst open, and Hermione ran inside. "Harry? Harry are you okay? What's wrong?" Hermione worriedly began while grabbing hold of his shoulders, trying to calm him down.  
  
Harry, who was panting and sweating by now, blankly looked up at her, stared for a few seconds, and finally began to regain some of his composure. After about a minute of silence, Hermione finally spoke up. "Harry are you alright", she asked in a soothing voice.  
  
"Yeah… I'm… fine… ", Harry answered, still panting. "Don't… worry… about me".  
  
Hermione slowly kneeled down near Harry, until she was at eye level with him. For a minute, through his glasses Hermione stared directly into Harry's pupils. Tears somehow came to her eyes as she continued looking. Then, finally she opened her mouth to try to give Harry some comforting words, but the only thing that she was to say was "oh Harry". Immediately after that, Hermione threw both her arms around Harry and held him extremely tight. She started to release all the tears that she has been trying to hold back. Harry feeling all of Hermione's tears falling on his shoulder did the only thing he could think of, he put his arms around her. Neither of them knew how long they stayed in that position.  
  
"Hermione", Harry said breaking the silence. "Are you ok now"?  
  
Hermione pulled away and nodded. She stood up first looked down at Harry with a few remaining tears in her eyes, and asked "what about you"?  
  
"I'm fine", Harry answered standing up. "I just had a bad dream, that's all", he said looking away.  
  
Something about the way he looked told Hermione that it was more than just a bad dream; but she decided not to ask, "He'll tell me when he's ready", she thought. She wiped the remaining tears out of her eyes, put on her best smile and said, "Well, It's almost morning, I'm going to go shower up; you can go after me". With that, she turned on her heel and walked out of the door, not noticing that Harry was watching her walk out of the room.  
  
Harry wiped any remaining sweat off his brow, lay down on his bed and started staring at the ceiling. "Weird", Harry said to himself.  
  
About an hour later, Harry and Hermione were sitting on the couching watching television, while Hermione was trying to explain the day's schedule.  
  
"We'll leave in about two hours", she was saying. "I promised Olivea and Samantha that we'd meet them right in front of the mall at nine thirty. It takes around twenty minutes to get there by bus, so if everything goes right we'll be there ten minutes early. Once we all meet, we'll have some breakfast at a coffee shop".  
  
"Great", Harry said turning his attention away from the TV. "So, who are these girls"?  
  
"I was getting to that", Hermione continued, acting like she was rudely interrupted. "Samantha is my friend since forever. We've known each other since before we could talk. We even planned on going to the same school and college together, but well you know. She doesn't know anything about our school or the wizarding world so be careful what you say around her, ok"? Harry nodded. "We haven't been spending that much time together lately, because she's a muggle, so I thought I'd make it up to her", Hermione added in.  
  
"OK, so who's Olivea"? Harry asked.  
  
"I knew Olivea for about a year", Hermione started. "Olivea is a witch like me; that's how we met. We spent most of the beginning of last summer doing our homework together".  
  
"Why didn't you invite her to the quidditch world cup"? Harry asked looking up at Hermione.  
  
"Well, back then we only knew each other for a few months", hermione answered matter of factly. "I couldn't ask the Weaselys if I could bring along an extra person whom they didn't even know, now could I? I'm sure it was hard enough for Mr. Weasely to get tickets for you, his entire family, and me, without me bringing in another person at the last minute. Besides, Olivea never really liked quidditch anyway".  
  
"What school does…" Harry started, but broke off when something else grabbed his attention. " It's the news, they might have more information about that robbery", Harry stated as he turned up the volume.  
  
"And now reporting live at the seen is Ervin Bleiss, Ervin"? Said the anchor lady as she turned to the screen on her right.  
  
The reporter just stood there not doing anything; then after around five seconds he picked up his microphone to his mouth and said "thank you, Alice". He turned around and faced the museum and started saying "as many of you loyal viewers already know, a little more than a week ago, the London museum has been broken into. The thief that broke inside left absolutely no evidence of ever being there. It took the people of the museum about a week to notice the robbery, that's how clever the crook was. The police have been very cautious about the amount of information they had disclosed. However, we were able to learn a fair deal on our own. First off, we know that it was a sphere made of ruby surrounded by bright gold decorations. Second, we know that it was the only thing stolen and third…Oh, hold on a second folks", the reporter said better adjusting his earpiece. "We have late breaking development in our story. It appears that the object stolen was in fact a quintuplet. There have four other objects just like that one reported. And". He stopped to listen inside his earpiece once again. "And yes, it appears that two others had been stolen from other museums, a few weeks earlier; one from a Museum in Germany, and another one from a museum in Japan. And according to the reports there, it appears the thief there was just as clever as the thief here. Our speculations are that the thief is building a collection out of these rare jewels. For security reasons we cannot reveal the locations of the other two, but we know that they are very safe in museums. We received word that the security is going to be tightened in those two remaining museums. And now I am going to ask the public for their opinion on the subject". He walked over to an old man with gray hair and a black coat and asked him, "Uh, excuse me sir what do you have to say about the robbery"?  
  
"Well sir", began the old man. "I think that it is a horrible what, uh, I mean the things people will do for money now a days, uh, what was the question again"? Asked the old man scratching his head.  
  
"Never mind", said the reporter as he moved away. "Excuse me miss, would you give us your opinion about the robbery"? He asked as he leaned the microphone closer to a young black lady's face.  
  
"Well, I hope that they catch this bum, and lock him up for a long time", she said nodding her head.  
  
"Thank you", he said as he moved to another person. "Excuse me sir, could share your opinion about the robbery with us".  
  
"I most certainly will", a snarl came from the man who the reporter was talking to.  
  
And to Harry's big surprise and embarrassment, the person was his uncle. "I think this is an outrage", uncle Vernon began. "Because this person was too lazy to get a job he had to rob this place and ruin the day for me and my family. I brought them here because my son had to do a report for his school about ancient artifacts. But when I got here, it turned out that the place was closed because the security couldn't do their jobs. I say that if the current security can't do it, then the museum should find someone who can".  
  
"Yes thank, sir. This is Ervin Bleiss…"  
  
"One minute there, I'm not finished", uncle Vernon interrupted trying to yank the microphone out of the reporter's hand. "I would also like to talk about the traffic lights in this city. I think that the traffic…"  
  
"I'm sorry sir, but we really have to go", said the reporter throwing uncle Vernon's arm off.  
  
"Just hold on a second, I am a tax payer and I demand the right to…"  
  
"This is Ervin Bleiss signing off, back to you Alice".  
  
"Thank you Ervin, well according…" But before the reporter could continue Harry turned off the television.  
  
"Weird", Harry said, once again getting lost in thought.  
  
"Yeah", said Hermione tucking her knees in. "Oh well", she said with a smile after a moment of silence. "It's none of our business. I'm sure the Police will be able to handle this".  
  
"Yeah", Harry agreed. "I guess you're right. So as I was saying", getting back to the subject. "What school does Olivea go to? She definitely doesn't go to Hogwarts that's for sure".  
  
"You're right she doesn't", Hermione said. "She goes to a wizarding school in America".  
  
"Oh, really, I've read all about America from one of Dudley's school books".  
  
"Really? You did? I'm proud".  
  
"What's the name of the school"? Harry asked her seeming interested.  
  
"S.I.T.", Hermione answered. "That stands for: Salem Institute of Triwizardry".  
  
"Is this school in Oregon, or Massachusetts"?  
  
"Massachusetts. They built it there in commemoration of the Salem Witch trials, where anyone who really was a witch or wizard was let go".  
  
"Oh yeah, I remember reading about those", Harry said as he placed his chin on his fist trying to remember the details of what he read. "By the way, what do they mean 'Triwizardry'"? Harry asked while on the topic.  
  
"Well, in S.I.T., oh would you look at the time. We have to go. I'll explain on the way to the bus stop". And it was true, with all the talk about America, and watching uncle Vernon make a complete fool of himself on national television, Harry and Hermione, didn't notice that it was ten to nine.  
  
With that, they put their jackets on, Hermione took some money that was lying on the counter, and they were off.  
  
Hermione stepped out of the house and Harry followed in suit. "Shouldn't we tell you're father we're leaving"? Harry asked.  
  
"Nah", Hermione answered. "Dad never wakes up before noon on a Saturday". Hermione locked the door and led Harry along the driveway towards the street.  
  
"Ok, so can you tell me about this triwizardry thing now"? Harry asked as he quickened his pace to catch up with Hermione.  
  
"Unlike Hogwarts, S.I.T. offers you three majors which you can choose from: History, Potions, and Hexes", Hermione started explaining, while quickening her own pace.  
  
"What do you mean three majors", Harry asked starting to get confused. "And don't we take those classes already"?  
  
"Yes, in Hogwarts we basically have some required classes like: Transfiguration, Defense against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Potions; and then there are some classes which you have a choice in like: Arithmancy, Study of ancient Runes, and Care of Magical creatures", Hermione said taking a break to gather her thoughts. "Once you graduate Hogwarts, you get a normal degree, unless you took the N.E.W.T.'s, in which case you get a gold star on it. The Degree will say all the subjects that you studied".  
  
"Yeah, I know that already".  
  
"Oh, here we are", Hermione said pointing to the end of the street. "Looks like we're the only ones here", she continued as she stopped to look around. "I guess not too many people use the bus at nine o'clock".  
  
"Ok, we still have five minutes left", Harry said as he stopped right beside her. "Could you continue"?  
  
"Sorry", Hermione said. "Anyway, in S.I.T. you get to pick one of three majors. And once you graduate, your degree will say that you specialize in this particular field. Hold on a second", Hermione said as she was trying to remember something. "That and that", Hermione muttered to herself. "Yes, I think that's it", she finally spoke up. "Once you pick a major you have to fulfill all of that majors requirements. Olivea's major is potions. In order to get a degree in potions, she has to take: up to and including, advanced care of magical creatures-being that magical creatures have something to do with potions, like dragons for example". Harry looked away when she said that, but Hermione obviously didn't notice because she continued, "up to and including, advanced Herbology-being that a lot of the plants that we grow are used in potions, like mandrakes for example; and finally, you have to take potions of course".  
  
"Really", Harry said as he turned back to Hermione. "I bet she wouldn't be so eager to take potions if Snape was her teacher".  
  
Hermione chucked a bit and said "no probably not. I also asked her the requirements for Hexes". And before Harry could stop her. "Let's see, there's advanced charms, advanced transfiguration and of course advanced Hexes-In our case defense against the dark arts. It would be a very useful degree if you want to get a job as an auror. And I never asked her the requirements for History", she said looking up. "Oh, look here comes our bus", Hermione said waving her hand to get the drivers attention.  
  
The bus stopped directly in front of Hermione and opened its doors. Hermione climbed on, paid for Harry and herself, and just before she was about to go find a seat she looked back and noticed that Harry was not inside. "Are coming inside Harry"? Hermione asked looking outside at Harry still standing there, seemingly lost in thought, thinking of what Hermione was telling him about S.I.T.  
  
"Oh sorry", Harry quickly answered, as if he just snapped out of a trance. He got on the bus and followed Hermione towards two empty seats.  
  
For about ten minute neither Harry nor Hermione spoke. Hermione was looking out the window enjoying the sights; while Harry was sitting arms crossed thinking about something. "Hermione", Harry said breaking the silence.  
  
"What is it"? She turned her attention away from the window and towards Harry.  
  
""Why does Olivea go to school all the way in America, instead of somewhere in Europe"? Harry asked uncrossing his arms to scratch his head.  
  
"Well", Hermione said reluctantly.  
  
"What is it"? Harry asked looking at her quizzically.  
  
"I'm not sure if I should be the one to tell you this, but..."  
  
"Then don't", Harry interrupted. "If it's something private, then it's none of my business", Harry stated as if the subject was closed. "And don't worry, I won't ask her either", he added.  
  
"Thanks", Hermione said. "But I think that maybe you should know. I'm sure she would want you to know".  
  
"Why? I don't even know this girl"? Harry asked looking more quizzical than before.  
  
"You'll find out", Hermione stated. "Well, anyway it started with her parents. They met each other at work, and, well you the rest of the story. They fell in love, got married, and had Olivea. About two years after Olivea was born, her parents got a divorce. It was pretty bad between them. They couldn't even stand the sight of each other. So, when her father got offered a job in America, he eagerly accepted. Although, he really regretted leaving Olivea behind, he knew that if he didn't take that job, he would be very miserable. So, a couple of years past, Olivea was eleven when her father, you know, 'mailed her'", Hermione winked while checking to see if anyone was looking. When she saw that no one was she continued, "Asking her if she wanted to go to school there. Really wanting to spend time with her father, she gladly accepted. Oh, here comes our stop", Hermione pressed the button to signal the driver to stop at the next stop. "So now", Hermione continued as she stood up following Harry up front. "She goes to school there, and visits her father on weekends, and spends the holidays here with her mother. And that's about all she told me". Hermione finished as they got off the bus.  
  
As soon as Harry got off, he saw two girls walking towards him. One was around Hermione's height, with jet-black hair, forget-me-not blue eyes, and a petite body. She was wearing a red top, a knee length skirt, and sneakers. The other was about eight inches shorter than Hermione, with a pink face, red hair, brown eyes, and a thick looking body. She wore a blue sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers.  
  
"Hey Hermione", said the taller one. "I really like the new look. It really suits you".  
  
"Huh, what do you mean"? Asked Hermione looking extremely confused.  
  
The taller one took a strand of Hermione's hair and waved it in front of her face.  
  
"Oh, no I forgot about that", Hermione gasped, looking extremely shocked.  
  
"Don't worry", said the shorter one, noticing the look on Hermione's face. "It looks really good on you", she said reassuringly.  
  
"Thanks", Hermione replied in a low voice. "I just hope it doesn't wear off anytime soon", she thought to herself.  
  
"So, uh Hermione", the taller one began. "Are you going to introduce us to your friend here".  
  
"Oh, of course, where are my manners", Hermione said shaking her head free of any thoughts that were in it at the time. "Samantha Hopkins", Hermione said looking at the short one, this is Harry Potter".  
  
"Oh, so I finally get to meet you", Samantha said while shaking Harry's hand. "You know, Hermione here talks about you all the time".  
  
"Oh, really, you don't say", Harry said giving her a fake look of amusement.  
  
"And this is", Hermione quickly jumped in, in order to stop Samantha from saying anything else.  
  
"Olivea det'Rugh (Day-Rooh) Mortsdam", interrupted the taller one, giving Harry a smirk while grabbing his hand. 


	5. Shopping With Girls

Disclaimer: I do not Own Harry Potter (even though I'd like to).  
  
A/N: I will know use apostrophes for thoughts. Thanks E.C.R. Potter.  
  
I wrote this chapter while I was sick so I'm sorry if it's not as good as the others.  
  
Harry, Hermione, Olivea, and Samantha all made their way toward the mall. Hermione, Olivea, and Samantha were leading up front with Harry trailing behind. As they were walking towards the mall, Samantha began whispering something in Hermione's ear.  
  
"Hey, what's up with Harry"? She asked looking back at Harry. "Has he been getting enough sleep lately". She was obviously referring to the black bags underneath Harry's eyes.  
  
"I don't think so", Hermione sighed looking down.  
  
They all stopped in front of the threshold in order to make plans.  
  
"Ok", Hermione began. "You guys go on ahead", She said looking at Olivea and Samantha. "Harry and I will have breakfast at the coffee shop. We'll meet at the fountain at ten-thirty. Ok"?  
  
"Sure", Olivea answered, while opening the door.  
  
"We'll see you then", Samantha said following Olivea inside.  
  
"Come on Harry", Hermione said grabbing Harry's hand and pulling him to start moving. "The coffee shop is a block further".  
  
"You mean it's not inside the mall"? Harry asked as he started walking.  
  
"They have one in the mall, but it's one of those franchises that charge you a pound a cup", Hermione answered letting go of Harry's hand. "I didn't mean that literally", she added when seeing Harry's shocked face. "Honestly, you're starting to remind me of Ron".  
  
"Sorry", Harry said in a low voice.  
  
"Here it is", Hermione said, stopping in front of an old building. "There isn't a single place in all of England that serves a better breakfast than this one".  
  
Somehow, Harry seriously doubted this. It looked like one of those old shops you see truck drivers stop by to get some coffee on TV, only a lot more dirty. The windows were so dusty that you couldn't even see inside, the roof and walls were all battered, and Harry could've sworn he saw something crawl inside under the door. "Ah, are you sure about this Hermione"? He asked, giving her an extremely puzzled look.  
  
"What's wrong? Don't you trust me"? She said giving him a glare.  
  
"Well it's just", Harry started. "Look at this place", he said pointing at it.  
  
"Appearance, can sometimes be deceiving", she answered giving him a mischievous grin.  
  
"Are you sure about this"? Harry asked still in doubt.  
  
"Positive", she said grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the door.  
  
As she opened the door a huge puff of dust was released. Hermione, who was obviously used to this, immediately covered her face with her shirt. Harry, who was not used to this didn't, and ended up sneezing for two minutes. As soon as Harry was able to get his sinuses under control Hermione led him inside the building heading towards the counter. The inside of the shop seemed to be even worse than the outside. The counter, the tables, the floors, even the man sitting at the counter were all covered in dirt and dust. Hermione led Harry across the dirty floor to the counter. Smiled at the unclean man and cheerfully said "Hello Frank". The man at the counter looked up at her and gave her a smile.  
  
" 'ello there 'ermione", he answered cheerfully. "The usual, Ah presume"? He asked giving her a wink.  
  
"Yes, except this time, a table for two", she said pointing at Harry.  
  
"Is 'e a", the man began, eyeing Harry suspiciously. "You know".  
  
"No need to worry", Hermione said reassuringly.  
  
"K, then", the man answered giving them a smile once again. "This way", he said, getting out from behind the counter and leading Harry and Hermione to a door. He took out a key, looked around, and opened the door to reveal an incredible sight. Inside was a beautiful room. The floor was covered with a crimson carpet; the walls shone of beautiful gold; and from the ceiling hung a huge chandelier. Beautifully carved tables made of oak were seen all throughout the room, with a few extremely comfortable looking chairs by each one. People in robes and hats could be seen sitting and talking to each other, while eating all sorts of delicious looking foods. Harry stared at the place in awe, immediately realizing what was going on. He turned back to the dirty old man wanting to ask him if this was what he thought it was. Harry got his answer just by looking in the man's direction, for the filthy old man had disappeared. Instead Harry saw a man with blond hair and a neatly pressed purple robe.  
  
"Follow me", the man said, leading them towards one of the free tables. "What's your name by the way"? He asked Harry, as he and Hermione sat at the table.  
  
"Ron Weasely", Harry replied, quickly telling him the first name that came to his head. This caused Hermione to give a slight chuckle. She stopped when she saw Harry glaring at her.  
  
"Ok then, just call me Frank", the man said taking Harry's hand and shaking it. "I'll be right back with your menus". With that the man disappeared.  
  
"Why didn't you tell him your real name"? Hermione asked as soon as Frank left.  
  
"Look around", Harry answered as if it were obvious. "I don't want to start an uproar here", he finished checking to make sure that his untidy bangs completely covered his scar. "And why didn't you tell me that this place was actually a part of the wizarding world"? Harry asked starting to get a little annoyed.  
  
"I said appearances can be deceiving", she answered gloatingly. "You'd never expect a place like this inside an old building like the we saw outside, now would you? I wasn't too sure myself, the first time I came here".  
  
"How did you know about this place anyway? And what happened to that guys accent"? Harry asked her looking a lot calmer, now that the shock of seeing the room wore off.  
  
"I read about it in the daily prophet. It just opened this summer. Olivea and I came here a few times already", Hermione answered. "And the accent is just there to make the muggles who actually come inside the coffee shop think that he's some stupid old yokel".  
  
Just at that moment Frank returned and handed them their menus. "Just say whatever you want, and it will appear on the table", he said looking at Harry.  
  
"I'll have the pancakes, with a little bit of syrup, and some herbal tea", Hermione said without even opening her menu. Immediately a plate full of pancakes, a cup full of herbal tea, and a jug of syrup appeared in front of Hermione.  
  
Harry was surprised, but shook it off as he opened his own menu. He looked at it for about a second, and closed it immediately with a stunned look on his face. "I'll have whatever she's having", he said, giving back the menu to Frank, wondering how anyone could eat some of the entrees he saw in it. Instantaneously a plate full of pancakes, a cup full of herbal tea, and a jug of syrup appeared in front of Harry.  
  
"I'll come back with your bill later", Frank said turning around to leave. "Oh by the way, I like your new look Hermione", he added giving Hermione a wink.  
  
"Now that we're on the subject", Harry started. "What is that stuff that you put on your hair"?  
  
"It's called a Polayjuice potion", Hermione explained. "It's a lot like the polyjuice potion, only it doesn't restructure your DNA". Seeing the confused look on Harry's face, she proceeded to explain. "A polyjuice potion uses the DNA from another person, to restructure yours in that other persons pattern. It does it in a way so as not to affect your personality, only the way you look. A polayjuice potion takes the genes that are already preset inside it and it; uhh, how can I put this"? Hermione started thinking.  
  
"It masks your genes", Harry answered for her. "Like a dominant gene masks a recessive gene".  
  
"Exactly", Hermione agreed. "This particular potion was preset for hair color. It had a dose of the blond gene in it. When I drank it the gene for blond hair masked my own genes for brown hair".  
  
"Drank it"? Harry questioned. "Didn't you say, you put it on yourself"?  
  
"I only said that, so as not to worry my dad" Hermione answered with a smile. "He doesn't like it when I ingest strange things, like potions".  
  
"And what was it that you said about freaky hair colors, and your hair falling out"? Harry continued.  
  
"That only happens if you take too much. Although the potion is meant to only mask your DNA, if taken too much it can break the weak hydrogen bonds that attach the purines and pyrimadines, resulting in a mutation. Thus giving you an unnatural hair color, or causing it to fall out", Hermione explained. "But don't worry", she assured. "With the small doses that I took, there's no way that anything like that will happen to me".  
  
"When will this stuff wear off"?  
  
"I took it right before coming to Privet Drive, so it should wear off tonight or tomorrow", she said confidently. "Although, I'm not exactly sure. The average is two to three days, but it's different for all people. I hope it doesn't wear off while we're in the mall", she said with a little less confidence. "Speaking of which, we better start eating, we have to meet Olivea and Samantha by ten thirty", she said as she stuffed a whole pancake in her mouth and washed it down with the tea.  
  
"Just one more thing", Harry persisted, as he took a bite out of his own pancake. "This potion could be used to mask any gene right? Not just the gene for hair color"?  
  
"Mhmm", she nodded with a mouth full of pancakes and tea.  
  
"So, you can change your skin color, eye color, even your height"? Harry asked her.  
  
She swallowed and said, "It all depends on how you make the potion. Like I said mine was made specifically for hair color. You have to be very careful when making this potion, because if you slip up by even a milligram or milliliter, it could have drastic consequences. I doubt that we'll learn how to make this potion anytime soon; that is if we learn to make it at all. It takes years to master it, because there are so many different ways of making it; because each different way results in a different phenotypic change", Hermione stopped to take a breath and then proceeded to ask "Do you understand everything I'm saying"?  
  
"Yeah, I read all about genetics and DNA from Dudley's human anatomy book. How did you know all this"? He continued the conversation.  
  
"Mrs. Weasely explained more or less how the potion worked. I worked out all the scientific stuff on my own", she said while taking another bite. "It's really a shame that normal people in the wizarding world don't have common scientific knowledge".  
  
"Yeah, I guess".  
  
They finished their breakfast, Hermione paid the bill, and Frank escorted them out of the nice room, and back into the dirty one.  
  
"See, y'all lata'", he shouted as they were leaving. "Bah 'ermione, bah 'arry".  
  
Harry immediately turned around, giving Frank a stunned look. "How did you know"? He asked.  
  
"Ah noticed yo' scar when y'all sat down", Frank answered giving Harry a smile. "Ah didn' say nothin' cause I respected yo' right to secrecy", he continued, smile getting wider. "See y'all lata'".  
  
With that Harry and Hermione left the coffee shop, and headed back towards the mall. They got to the mall entrance ten minutes before they were supposed to meet Olivea and Samantha. They crossed the threshold of the mall and started to head directly for the fountain. The mall was huge, a lot bigger than any other mall that Harry had been to. It had shining white marble floors, white stone columns holding up the second and third floors, the roof was transparent, and there were trees planted in the center of the mall near the fountain where they were supposed meet Hermione's friends. Harry and Hermione got to the fountain five minutes ahead of schedule, and therefore decided to sit and wait for Olivea and Samantha. Sure enough, Olivea and Samantha showed up two minutes later, each holding three bags in each hand.  
  
The rest of the day, in Harry's opinion was very boring. The girls just ran around the mall stopping at stores randomly to try on all sorts of different clothes, while Harry just followed them around carrying the packages. The entire day Harry did nothing except pretend to smile and act like he was interested. Five hours later, the girls were all tired and decided to call it quits. Harry thought he was out of the woods, when Samantha yelled the four dreaded words: "LOOK, A SHOE-SALE".  
  
'Great', Harry thought sarcastically. 'A shoe-sale'. Immediately afterwards the three girls dragged Harry inside and started trying on what seemed like every single pair of shoes in the store in front of him. After about the first thirty pairs that were shone in his face, Harry wanted to start banging his head against the wall in order to make himself unconscious. 'Even potions is better than this', he thought to himself. Finally, two hours and ten bags later Harry, Hermione, Olivea, and Samantha left the mall to go home.  
  
They got to the bus stop and placed their packages on the ground and began waiting for the bus to come, while talking about what a great day it's been, and how they should do it again sometime soon. Samantha's bus was the first to get there. She took her packages onto the bus, waved goodbye, paid for the ride and went to take her seat.  
  
"Well, now that she's gone", Olivea started. "We can finally start talking about something interesting".  
  
"Like what"? Asked Hermione.  
  
"Like how your date went", Olivea answered giving both Harry and Hermione a shrewd smile. This left both Harry and Hermione silent for a moment, Harry confused, and Hermione beet red. "Well, how was it", Olivea persisted breaking the silence.  
  
"It wasn't a date", Hermione was finally able to let out. "We just missed breakfast, and decided to have some at the coffee shop that's all, right Harry"?  
  
Harry, who was still confused by the question couldn't think of anything else to say except: "Whatever".  
  
"Right", Olivea said sarcastically. "Hermione", she started, grabbing Hermione's elbow. "Can I talk to you alone for a minute. You don't mind do you Harry"?  
  
Harry shook his head and began leaning against a streetlight, as Olivea dragged Hermione towards the other end of the block.  
  
"Ok", Olivea said giving Hermione a very serious look as they both stopped at the end. "Spill it".  
  
"Spill what"? Hermione asked pretending to not know what Olivea was talking about.  
  
"What's up between you and Harry"? Olivea asked.  
  
"There's really nothing", Hermione answered looking away to hide her blush.  
  
"Come on Hermione", Olivea persisted. "I'm your friend, as well as Harry Potter's biggest fan. I only want both of you to be happy".  
  
Hermione looked down not knowing exactly how to answer her.  
  
"Hermione", Olivea continued in a soft voice. "I've seen the way you look at him. I know how you feel about him. It's because of him that your relationship with that other guy didn't work out, isn't it"?  
  
"You just don't understand", Hermione sighed looking down.  
  
"Well, then tell me"?  
  
"The truth is, I don't understand myself", Hermione began in a low melancholy voice. "Something happened to him last semester. Something horrible. And whatever happened seems to have sucked all the life out of him, as well as all of his feelings".  
  
"Yeah", Olivea agreed. "I noticed all of his fake smiles, and how he feigned having fun with us today".  
  
"Right now", Hermione continued in the same melancholy voice. "I can't tell him about my feelings, because right now, I don't think he has any feelings that he can give me in return. It would only make him more upset if I told him how I feel".  
  
"What do you mean"?  
  
"I already know what it feels like to have someone love me, and me not being able love them back. It's a horrible feeling, when someone has feelings for you; feelings that you can't give in return. And", she sighed looking up at Harry on the other side of the street. "He's already been through so much".  
  
"Hermione", Olivea said in a low smooth voice.  
  
"I saw him last night", Hermione continued looking down again. Tears started forming in her eyes as she struggled to hold them back. "He's in such a terrible state now", she sobbed as more tears began accumulating. Olivea immediately jumped in front of her in order to block Harry's view. "He was on the brink of insanity. And if I told him, it would put him over the edge. I CAN'T DO THAT TO HIM", she sobbed louder, putting her face into her hands allowing her tears to flow freely. "I can't let that happen to him. I love him too much".  
  
"So you wont tell him", Olivea muttered in a voice so low that Hermione couldn't hear her. She let Hermione cry for a few minutes, and then changing the subject, she asked if she could sleep over at her house tomorrow night.  
  
Hermione took a minute to regain control of herself, wiped away her remaining tears, looked Olivea up in the face and said sure.  
  
"Great", Olivea said. "I have something that I've been wanting to tell you all summer, and with Harry there it'll be… well you'll find out".  
  
"Here comes your bus", Hermione said pointing in front of her.  
  
They walked back over to Harry just as Olivea's stopped in front of him opening the door. "Well, bye Harry see ya soon", Olivea said in a cheerful way. "And Hermione", she said as she leaned in close to her and began to whisper so low that Harry couldn't hear. "This is something that you should definitely commit to memory being the kind of person that you are. 'When a person gets to the position that Harry is at, he doesn't need guidance; he needs support'. So support him as much as you can during this troubling time of his". With that Olivea picked up her packages, got on the bus, paid the driver, waived back to Harry and Hermione, and moved inside the bus to find herself a good seat.  
  
Harry and Hermione continued waiting at the bus stop for another twenty minutes, neither saying a word to the other. The bus came and took them back to the Granger residence. The twenty-minute bus ride was also silent. They walked back to the house from the stop, still silent; stepped inside the house, left the packages in the living room; and both sat on the couch, silently.  
  
"Harry", Hermione spoke up, breaking the long silence.  
  
"What is it", he asked turning left to look at her.  
  
"I'm sorry, if you didn't have any fun today", she said in a timid voice.  
  
"It's okay, I had a lot of fun", Harry lied.  
  
"Yeah", Hermione said giving Harry a small smile, not believing a word he was saying. "And also", she continued. "I want you to know that I…" she stopped, took a deep breath and said "that I will always be there for you, to help you anyway I can".  
  
"Thank you", Harry said. "That means a lot to me".  
  
"No problem".  
  
And with that, they said good night to each other and went to bed.  
  
That night, for some unknown reason, maybe it was because he was so bored from all the shopping, Harry was able to fall asleep. 


	6. A Hard Good Bye

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N: Thank you for reviewing (all of you that did).

PS: I'm just making this stuff up as I go along.

A Hard Good Bye

Harry was slowly walking in what looked like an endless darkness. It was so dark that he couldn't even see himself. I was just as well because he didn't seem to be paying attention to where he was going. In fact he wasn't paying attention to anything. If someone were to shine a little light in his face, they would see a blank face, a face without expression or feeling. He probably wouldn't even react to the light that was shone in his face. He continued walking endlessly, not stopping, not even for a second. He walked for what seemed like hours through the empty darkness, until he could see a light. Harry did not react to this light, he just continued walking towards it. The light seemed to be getting closer. If Harry looked down now, he would actually be able to see his own body. He continued walking towards the light. It was as if something had pulled him here, like he knew exactly where to go. He continued to walk until the darkness was completely behind him, until he was in the light. As soon as he left the darkness, it disappeared behind him. He continued walking, this time in the light. And after what seemed like another few hours, he stopped. He began to look around with the same blank expression on his face that he had for the past few hours. He seemed to be standing on top of a building, or a tower. A tower so high that he could see clouds just by looking straight ahead. He continued walking until he reached the edge. He stopped and looked down, his face still blank. He saw a long spiral staircase heading down for what seemed like miles. Then suddenly, the tower disappeared leaving Harry floating in mid-air. He continued to float for a few minutes, seemingly unaffected at all by gravity. And then without warning, it began taking its affect. Harry was falling faster and faster with each passing second. He didn't scream, nor did he close his eyes. In fact he didn't seem to do anything except stare blankly out into space. He fell for what seemed like miles, accelerating more and more with each passing second, until he could see the ground. He was getting closer and closer, until…

Harry jumped up in his bed panting and sweating with his hands grasping his blanket tightly. He sat for a few minutes continuing to hold onto his blanket.

Finally, after a few minute, he let go and fell back onto his pillow. He recovered his glasses from the drawer next to his bed, put them on, and looked at the clock that was standing on the same drawer. He saw that it was around four o'clock in the morning.

'What was that all about', he thought while using his left hand to wipe away his sweat. 'I remember darkness, a tower, and me falling, and then I woke up'. Harry continued to lie in bed thinking about his dream.

"Oh well", he sighed to himself, shaking his head. "It was probably just a dream". He got up and started for the door. 'But, it seemed to be so real', he thought as he opened it. He made his way over to the bathroom in order to wash up. He was still thinking about the dream that he just had, but put it out of his mind the second he opened the door.

After he opened the door, he turned on the light on and began to look into the mirror. The same lifeless eyes that Harry saw at Privet Drive stared back at him. 'Will I ever be myself again'? He thought miserably. He stood there staring at his reflection for a few minutes, when suddenly his thoughts began to drift towards Hermione. 'She was scared of me', he thought, remembering the first time Hermione looked into his eyes. At that moment he seemed to hear a soft voice in his ear.

"I want you to know that I… that I will always be there for you, to help you anyway I can", the voice said.

'It's Hermione', Harry thought.

He looked in the mirror again, more closely this time. Maybe there was just a small change, that's all he wanted, that's all he needed now. But, there wasn't. He saw the exact same graveyard. Nothing at all has changed. "Why does it have to be this way"? He said in a low melancholy voice. "Why must I make other people suffer"?

Immediately Harry froze, as he began hearing that dreaded whisper that has been driving him mad all summer. "It's all your fault", it began in a whisper.

"WHO ARE YOU"!!! Harry yelled. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME"?!!!

"It's your fault that others have suffered", the voice continued in the same whisper. "And now you must suffer for it".

"I DIDN'T… MEAN… FOR… ANY… OF THIS… TO HAPPEN"!!! Harry yelled as he fell down to the floor clutching his head with both hands.

"But it did happen", the voice said increasing its volume with each word. "And it's your fault that it happened. Others have suffered because of you, and now even more will suffer"!

"STOP IT"!!! Harry yelled.

"Look", the voice continued. "Look at the faces of all those that have suffered because of you". Immediately the bathroom disappeared from in front of Harry's eyes. Taking its place were miserable looking faces, all of which were glaring at him. First he saw Ron's face. "Famous Harry Potter, always getting whatever you want", the face snarled. A voice from Harry's left said "You took away the only glory that Hufflepuff has ever had". He turned to see it was Professor Sprout, head of the Hufflepuff house. A voice from behind "You let our son die". He turned around and saw the tearstained faces of Mr. And Mrs. Diggory. "Thanks to you Harry I have to abdicate from society, and live off of rats". It was Sirius on his upper right. "Why couldn't you help me Harry, I thought we were friends". It was Cedric on his right. "I love you Harry, why wont you give me the time of day"? It was a tearstained Ginny on his upper left. "Harry", he looked up and saw Hermione with tears in her eyes. Her face looked exactly the same as the previous night. "Why are forcing me to go through this? WHY"?!!! She yelled.

"Do you see"? The voice asked as all the faces disappeared. "You even make those closest to you suffer, and now I will make you suffer for it".

"PLEASE STOP"!!! Harry yelled, already on the brink of going insane.

"I will not stop until you have paid for what you've done. Because of you so many have suffered, and now that the Dark Lord is on the loose, even more will suffer. And it's all your fault".

"No it isn't", Harry said in a timid voice. "It isn't… it isn't… it isn't… ". He kept repeating the same two words over and over in the same timid voice, while holding his head in his hands.

"Harry, please wake up", a different voice whispered, while he was still repeating the same two words, trying desperately to believe in them. "Harry, wake up, please". The voice became louder. "Wake up"! The voice practically yelled.

Harry slowly opened his eyes. He felt a cold sweat on his brow, and he seemed to be breathing rather hard. His head felt like it had been run through a spin cycle, and his limbs felt extremely sore and weak. He looked up and saw a pale faced, tearstained Hermione looking down on him with fear and pity in her eyes. He sat up not taking his eyes of her.

"Oh Harry", she sobbed trying hard to hold back her tears.

'I'm making the people closest to me suffer', he thought to himself.

Immediately he got up, walked past Hermione, pushed the door open and sprinted for his room. He ran over to his trunk, kicked it open, and began taking his clothes out of the drawer near his bed and dropping them inside his trunk.

"What are you doing"? Harry looked back and saw Hermione standing outside of his door. He ignored her and continued putting his things in his trunk.

"Harry, what are you doing"? Hermione repeated as she walked over to him. "Harry will you answer me"! She cried grabbing a hold of his right elbow.

"I'm leaving", He stated nonchalantly, as he pushed her hand away and continued packing.

"What, Why"?! She asked him looking extremely hurt and shocked.

"I have to go", he answered in the same nonchalant way.

"No you don't", she said defiantly as she reached into his trunk and started throwing his clothes out onto his bed. "Look", she said pulling his right elbow with both of her hands this time. "I'm really, very sorry about yesterday. I promise we'll have a lot more fun from now on", she continued sounding incredibly desperate.

"It has nothing to do with that", Harry sighed. "I just don't want to be a burden on anyone".

"Harry, you're not a burden", she said shaking her head a little. "I really like having you…"

"Hermione", Harry interrupted, looking at her in a very serious manner and began speaking in a very serious tone. "I'll stay", he said. Hermione's spirits seemed to be lifted a bit. "But, on one condition", Harry continued in the same serious tone.

"What is it? I'll do anything", Hermione said in a hopeful voice.

Immediately Harry grabbed her shoulders with both of his hands and brought his face close to her's. Hermione, who seemed to be in extreme shock, didn't say anything.

"If you can look into my eyes", He started. "Really look, and not be afraid, then I'll stay", he finished in a whisper.

'Okay', Hermione thought, opening her eyes. 'This is going to be easy' She began bracing herself. 'Just a quick peak inside and you're all done'. She began looking up his face very slowly. 'A very handsome face', she thought. Up past his black bags 'poor thing, he needs some more sleep', she thought getting a little depressed. She continued on into his bloodshot eyeballs. 'Nothing, a few eye drops won't cure'. Into his irises 'Beautiful, as always'. And finally, bracing herself now more than ever, she looked into his pupils. 'Oh my god' she thought. 'So much pain. So much suffering. Nothing but Death. How can he stand it? HOW'? Immediately, not being able to look anymore, she turned away.

"Goodbye Hermione", Harry said as he picked up the clothes that Hermione threw on his bed and placed them inside his trunk. He closed his trunk, grabbed his broom, put a Hedwigless cage (she was flying outside looking for mice) under his shoulder, and began to drag his trunk down the stairs.

At this moment Hermione realized that if she didn't stop him, she might lose him forever. She sprinted down the stairs after him, trying to think of a way to convince him to stay.

Harry was already down the stairs and heading towards the door. "Harry"! She yelled out from middle of the staircase. Harry stopped and looked back at her. "Please", she begged tears falling once again. "Don't go. Please".

"Hermione", he said as he opened the door in front of him. "Please forget about me".

"No", she cried as she ran down the stairs.

"I'm not the same person, that you once knew", he began in a melancholy voice, as Hermione came up closer to him. "I wish I was, but I'm not".

"That doesn't matter to me", Hermione cried, as she closed the door. "It doesn't matter how much you've changed. You'll still always be the same Harry to me".

"Hermione", Harry said getting frustrated. "You can't even look at me anymore"!

"That's just something that I have to deal with", She cried putting her hand on her chest.

"That's the thing Hermione", Harry said looking down at the floor. "I don't want you to deal with it. I don't want to be a burden on anyone".

"Harry, be reasonable", Hermione said in a desperate voice. "Where are you going to go? You can't go back to the Dursleys".

"I'll go somewhere where I can be alone", Harry answered coldly.

"Harry", she began crying into her hands.

"I was born alone, I lived ten years of my life alone, and now all I want to do is be alone", Harry said even more coldly.

"Harry, please don't go", Hermione sobbed still crying into her hands. "The Dark Lord is out there. He'll find you, and then he'll kill you. And then, I don't know what I'll do".

"That is my burden to bear", he said with the same cold voice. He opened the door, took his things outside and before he closed it, he said one last thing to her. "Hermione, please tell the Weaselys to stay away from me". He closed the door and left.

That was it; he was gone. Hermione walked over to the couch, fell onto it face first and started crying harder than she ever cried before. She kept trying to regain control of herself, but failing. She knew that crying wouldn't change anything, but didn't care. She cried nonstop for over an hour.

"Hermione", she heard a gentle voice say.

She looked up and saw her father gaze down at her with concerned eyes. "What happened"? He asked as he sat down beside her.

"Harry left", She sobbed letting more tears flow down her face.

"There, there", he soothed, as he pulled her into a hug.

"He's in so much pain", Hermione continued, crying into her fathers shoulder. "And there's nothing I can do for him".

"Hermione", her father started in a stern tone. "Don't give up, have hope".

"What"? She sobbed, looking up at her father.

"You've told me many of his stories, and in every single one of them he never gave up. You shouldn't either", he stated in the same stern voice.

"But I'm not as strong as him", she sobbed putting her face in her hands again.

"Maybe not, but you love him, don't you"?

"How did you…"? Hermione immediately looked up at her father with surprise on her face.

"I'm your father, I just know", he answered giving her a smile. "Look Hermione, how I know is not the point. The point is that if you love someone you shouldn't give up on them. I would never give up on your mother".

Hermione looked down not sure of what to say.

"Hermione", her father continued. "You can't always get everything handed to you on a silver platter. Sometimes you have to work to get what you want. And I can promise you; it will all be worth it at the end. The harder it will be, the more it will strengthen your bond together". He stopped for a moment, not knowing what to say next. "Uh, anyway, the first thing you do once you get to school is try to help him somehow, that's an order" he finished.

Seeing that she would rather be alone at this time, he got up and left towards the stairs. "Hermione, that boy wouldn't give up on you if positions were switched, so don't you give up on him". And with that he went back to bed.

'I'll try my best', she thought. 'That is if Harry comes back to Hogwarts'. She started to get a little more concerned. 'What if he's gone forever? What if the Dark Lord finds him?' She continued thinking getting more depressed with each thought. 'I just can't picture my life without him in it'.

"No", she said in a loud voice. "I won't think of that. Harry is going to be just fine. And once I see him again, I'll somehow find a way to help him".


	7. Harry's Promise

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  
  
a/n: Could you guys please review. Pretty please, I don't even care if they're flames. I just want to know that people are actually reading this story. It took a long time to come up with this stuff and write it all down. And I want to at least know that people are reading it.  
  
Harry's Promise  
  
Harry closed the door of the Granger house. Grabbed the handle on the side of his trunk with his left had and began dragging it away from the house. He held Hedwig's cage under his right elbow, while struggling to hold his broomstick in his right hand. As he walked down the block a mixture of thoughts clouded Harry's head. 'Why does it have to be this way? Why must I keep hurting those that I love'. He began thinking of Hermione; of the way her faced looked when she was begging him not to go. It took all of the strength and self-control he had to leave her that night. But, he did what he had to do. 'She was so upset', he thought. 'But, she's better off without me. A worthless being like myself doesn't deserve to have any friends, especially not a friend like her'. He became more and more miserable with every step he took. 'A person like my myself is destined to be alone, for the rest of his life'.  
  
He stopped at the corner drooping his broom on the ground a second later. He carefully placed Hedwig's cage on the ground near the trunk. He stretched out his left arm, which seemed to be sore from the awkward position that it was just in, rotated it a bit and placed it back at his side. He kicked open his trunk, knelt by it and started rummaging through it. He left Hermione's house in a bit of a hurry, so he didn't know where everything was. After searching for about two minutes, he finally got up looking satisfied. In his right hand he held his wand, and in his left hand he held a sack of wizard's money. He raised his wand in the air and held it for about half a minute. 'Its not coming', Harry thought as he put his arm down. He was trying to call the knight's bus; a bus that stopped by to pick up any witch or wizard who summons it. He sat on his trunk thinking of what he should do. 'I guess, I'd better fly to London', he thought. 'I'll use the invisibility cloak and…'  
  
Before Harry could even finish his thought he heard a loud honking noise, which shook him up a bit. It was the knight's bus heading right towards Harry. 'Finally', Harry thought. 'Took them long enough'.  
  
The bus stopped directly in front of Harry. The doors opened, shining some light directly onto Harry's face. In the doorway stood a young pimple faced person that Harry already knew as Stan.  
  
" 'ello there 'arry", Stan said in a cheerful voice. " 'ey Ern" He yelled back inside the bus. "Take a guess on 'ho came back".  
  
"Who"? Harry heard a grunt from inside the bus.  
  
"It's 'arry Potter", He yelled.  
  
"Wha' choo doin' in yo' pj's", he asked turning back to Harry.  
  
Harry looked down and realized that he left Hermione's house in such a hurry that he completely forgot to change. "Just shut up and help me with my trunk"! Harry yelled feeling a little frustrated and embarrassed from the situation.  
  
"Ok, ok, don' get yer knickers in a knot", Stan said as he stepped off the bus.  
  
"I'm not paying you to be a smart-aleck", Harry grunted looking less angry than he felt. He was still a little shook up by what happened at Hermione's house, and the last thing he needed was some country bumpkin making him look stupid.  
  
"Ah know", Stan replied casually. "Ah jus' throw that in fer free. Hahaha". He began cracking up at his own joke.  
  
Harry didn't look even a bit amused. The more Stan laughed at his own joke the more Harry wanted to sock in right in the kisser. "VOLDEMORT"!!! Harry yelled as loud as he could, causing the entire knight's bus to go into an uproar, and making Stan to accidentally fall on his behind.  
  
A white faced Stan looked up at Harry and said, "geez, ye don' 'ave to get nasty 'ere. What in tar nation do ye think yer doing". He slowly got up, not taking his eyes off of Harry. He stared at him for a minute not saying anything.  
  
"Just do your job, you damn yokel"! Harry angrily said, giving Stan a glare.  
  
"Fine", Stan muttered. He helped Harry take his trunk inside the bus, and then led him towards his bed. "That'll be eleven sickles; fourteen if y'all want the deluxe package", he said, once again beginning to chuckle at his corny joke.  
  
Harry reached inside his bag pulled out a galleon and threw it directly in Stan's face, hitting him hard. "Here", Harry gritted through his teeth. "Keep the change".  
  
"Wha' choo do that for"! Stan yelled as he started clutching his forehead. "Ye could've put ma' eye out". Stan bent down picked up the coin and put it in his pocket, turned back to Harry and asked. "Where do y'all wants to go"?  
  
"Take me to the leaky cauldron, and don't bother me until we get there", Harry replied coldly. "Got it"!  
  
"Yeah, alrah't.", Stan answered looking a little scared at this point. He turned around and was about to leave when something inside him made him stop. "Now hold on there jus' a secon'", He began.  
  
But before he could say anything, Harry got in his face glaring more furiously than ever. The only time he was this angry was when he almost killed Sirius Black in his third year. "Voldemort", Harry started in a whisper. "Voldemort", He continued in a louder voice. "VOLDEMORT, VOLDEMORT, VOLDEMORT"!!! He yelled, as Stan and the rest of the passengers ran out of the room looking like they just peed their pants. "And next time you want to insult someone, use proper English, you idiot", Harry muttered.  
  
Harry lay down on his bed still as mad as ever. He wasn't really angry with Stan, he was really angry with himself. At that moment, he hated himself more than anything. He had hurt Hermione, and now he took all his frustrations out on Stan. 'Maybe I should just be left alone'. He wished he could talk to someone about his problems, but knew that no one would understand. That was the story of Harry's life. No one really knew what it meant to be Harry Potter. For some reason everyone always wanted to have his life. Harry never understood why though. 'I guess they think its nothing but photo shoots and autograph signing', Harry thought as he rolled over. Harry continued to lie in his bed thinking about how his life ended up this way. He just couldn't understand, in one summer he lost everything that ever mattered to him; everything that he ever cared about. His thoughts kept coming back to Hermione. Of how hurt she was when Harry left. He tried to block it out of his mind, but couldn't. "What could this mean", he muttered to himself. He continued thinking about her for a few minutes trying desperately to understand his feelings, but in the end failing. 'Maybe I really don't have anymore feelings', Harry thought. 'Oh well, it doesn't matter, because I'm not going to see her again'.  
  
At that moment, Harry heard a knock on the door of the room, followed by what sounded like the voice of an old man. "We're here", said the voice. Harry opened the door to find an old man with one tooth standing in front of him.  
  
"Tom"? Harry said in surprise. "What are you doing on the Knight's bus"?  
  
"Well", Tom started. "Old Stan and Ernie are a little afraid to approach you at this moment. They said something about you-know-who; I couldn't really understand through all their stuttering. So I came to get you out myself".  
  
Harry looked down at the floor feeling extremely bad for the way he treated Stan. He thought about apologizing, but blew that idea right out of his mind. If Sam and Ernie were even too scared to tell Tom about what happened, then what were the chances that they were going to stick around to listen to Harry.  
  
"Come on", Tom said gently, while putting an arm around Harry's shoulder. "Just follow me. Your baggage will be taken to your room by one of my attendants".  
  
Harry left the knight's bus with Tom and headed towards the entrance of the leaky cauldron. He couldn't see either Stan or Ernie on his way out. This made Harry feel even worse. 'They're probably hiding because of what happened', thought Harry. 'I acted like a complete jerk', Harry started putting himself down. 'I don't deserve to be around people'.  
  
"You know", Tom started as they reached the entrance of the leaky cauldron. "I can't blame them for the way they were acting". He opened the door and gestured Harry to come inside.  
  
"What do you mean"? Harry asked as he stepped in.  
  
"Well", Tom started to answer. "There have been a lot of rumors going on about how old you-know-who has returned". He came in and slammed the door shut. "A lot of people are extremely scared now-a-days".  
  
"They have a right to be", Harry said in a low voice. "Because it's no rumor".  
  
Apparently Tom hadn't heard him as he continued talking. "But Cornelius Fudge, the minister of magic has assured everyone that no such thing has happened. That it was only a rumor started by some death-eaters to scare the public".  
  
"Fudge is a fool", Harry said in voice loud enough for only Tom to hear. Harry remembered the previous year when Dumbledore and Fudge had that huge argument in the hospital wing. Dumbledore kept insisting that Voldemort has returned, while Fudge kept denying it. At the end they ended up, ending their friendship.  
  
"What do you mean"? Tom looked at him quizzically. "You're not saying that you-know-who has actually returned, has he"? Tom asked Harry with a look of shock and fear on his face.  
  
"I mean exactly what I said", Harry answered coldly. "Throughout his career Fudge has always valued those who came from old wizarding families, otherwise known as purebloods. He even held Mr. Weasely's career back, because Mr. Weasely likes muggles so much".  
  
"What exactly are you trying to say"? Tom looked down at Harry a little less scared now.  
  
"I'm saying that every single person in Voldemort's (Tom flinched) is what Fudge calls a pureblood", Harry answered as if explaining to a child.  
  
"Well, uh would you like me to show you to your room", Tom asked changing the subject.  
  
"Sure", Harry answered nonchalantly.  
  
Harry followed Tom to the stairs, ignoring all the people trying to get a glance at him. Everyone knew who he was the moment he stepped inside the leaky cauldron.  
  
Tom led Harry up the stairs and towards a room not saying anything to him. He probably understood by now why Stan and Ernie were so scared. Harry must have said Voldemort's name out loud.  
  
"Well here you are", Tom said as they stopped by Harry's room. "Room four, I hope you like it. Are you going to stay here until school starts"?  
  
"No", Harry replied. "I'll be leaving in a couple of days". He walked over to his bed and lay down on it.  
  
"Ok", Tom started. He wondered why Harry wasn't going to stay until school started, but didn't ask, being that it was none of his business. "I'll be leaving now". He turned around grabbed the door handle, and just before he was about to close it, he heard Harry call out to him.  
  
"Tom"! Harry called. Tom looked back inside at Harry. "Please don't tell anyone I'm here, ok"?  
  
"Not even your friends"? Tom asked.  
  
"Especially not to them", Harry answered raising his voice.  
  
"Ok". And with that, Tom closed Harry's door and left.  
  
"Later, I'm going to get my money out of Gringotts and get out of here", Harry began talking to himself.  
  
"Where are you going to go"? A strange voice asked him.  
  
Harry immediately started looking around the room to see the originator of the voice. "Who are you"?! Harry yelled. "Where are you"?!  
  
"Be quiet", said the voice. "I'm right here in the shadows". The voice seemed to be coming from the Harry's right. He walked closer to where he thought the voice came from, getting a little scared. "Hey Harry", the speaker said as he came out of the shadows.  
  
It turned out to be none other than his godfather, Sirius Black. "What are you doing here", Harry gritted through his teeth as he glared at Sirius. "You could get caught. Do you know what they're going to do to you if they catch you". Sirius tried to answer, but Harry, who was seemingly mad, interrupted him. "With all the rumors about Voldemort, they're definitely going to have the Dementors use their kiss on you, do you want that"? Harry finished trying to catch his breath, from saying too many things in one breath while at the same time being angry. 'How does Hermione do it'? Harry thought.  
  
"Harry", Sirius began. "Relax. Take a deep breath". Harry did. "Good. Now the reason I'm here is, because Dumbledore asked me to give you this". Sirius handed Harry an envelope. "With Voldemort running around, we can't be too careful", he stated. "Even with the charm that Dumbledore placed on you".  
  
Harry looked at the letter and realized that it didn't have an address on it, only Harry's name. He opened it up, took the piece of parchment inside and began reading it. It turned out to be what Harry has been waiting for all summer. It was the letter telling him to return to Hogwarts, and the list of schoolbooks he needed for his fifth year. It had the books for all the classes that Harry was already taking, plus two more. 'Arithmancy for Beginner', and 'Intermediate Arithmancy'. 'Looks like McGonagold got the letter that I sent out before I left for Hermione's house', Harry thought. "Thanks", Harry said in a low voice. "But I won't be needing this". He put the letter down on top of his drawer.  
  
"What?" Sirius looked surprised. "Why not"? He asked.  
  
"Because I'm not going back", Harry answered looking down at the floor. He really admired Sirius, and it was hard to tell this to him.  
  
"Don't joke around with me Harry", Sirius said in a very serious tone. "Yes, you, are", he ended, with emphasis on each word.  
  
"No I'm not", Harry said in a low voice, still looking down at the floor.  
  
"Why not"? Sirius asked as he sat down near Harry. He put his arm around Harry's shoulder and asked him again. "Why not"?  
  
"Because there's nothing there for me".  
  
"What are you talking about"?! Sirius yelled out, looking completely surprised. "You have your friends. Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, that Neville boy, the twins, and all the other kids in Gryffindor. I think that's more than enough of a reason to go back".  
  
"They're not my friends", Harry stated. "Not anymore".  
  
"What are you talking about"? Sirius asked. "What happened? Did you have a fight with them"?  
  
"No I didn't", Harry whispered. "I can't be friends with anyone".  
  
"Why not", Sirius asked looking extremely puzzled at this point.  
  
"Because I don't want to hurt them. I don't want to cause them anymore pain", Harry stated.  
  
"I think", Sirius started in a soft voice. "That the only way you could hurt them is if you stop being friends with them".  
  
"You don't understand", Harry said looking Sirius in the eyes. "You didn't see what Hermione's face looked like". He stopped for a second. "I, I've lost my humanity. I can't even look into her eyes without scaring her".  
  
"I don't understand"? He said as he got up and started laughing a bit. He paced the room for a minute, laughing the entire time.  
  
"What's so funny"? Harry asked, sounding extremely offended.  
  
"I understand better than you think", Sirius said, his jovial face turning into one of severe expression.  
  
"What"? Harry looked up surprised [more by his change in expression].  
  
"Did you already forget, that I was supposed to be Lily and James' secret keeper"? He said in a melancholy voice. "But I decided that it would be better if that rat Pettigrew did it", he said with hatred in his eyes. "I handed Lily and James over to him, and to Voldemort. And you can believe me; that thought crossed my mind more than once while I was in azkaban". He sat down by Harry, hands cupping his face. "So you see Harry, I do know what it feels like to hurt those that you love".  
  
He faced Harry and put his hands on Harry's shoulder making Harry look him straight in the face. "Harry listen to me", he started. "You are a very kind person. You hate hurting other people, especially those who you love. You haven't lost your humanity. Being able to care for others, being able to feel their pain. That is the one thing that separates us from the animals". He stopped for a second, not knowing what to say next. "Pettigrew for example", he started again, with anger in his voice. "He is a person that has lost his humanity. He'd sell out his own mother for a little bit of reflected glory. He doesn't care about anyone but himself, just like the beasts".  
  
Sirius saw that none of this was sinking into Harry's head so he decided on a new approach. "Harry, Hogwarts is the only place where you will be safe. It's very dangerous now a days, especially for you", Sirius took the letter from the drawer and placed it into Harry's lap. "Dumbledore's charm won't last for much longer, and you can't go back to those muggles. The best place for you to be right now is under Dunbledore's watchful eye".  
  
"Sirius", Harry started with panic in his voice. "I can't go back, I just can't". Harry put his head in his hands, holding it tight as if he were having another one of his mental attacks.  
  
"Oh Harry", Sirius said shaking his head. "Right now, is one of those very rare times, when I'm actually glad that your parents are dead. If they saw you now, in the state you're in, putting yourself down, while others are trying to bring you up; well I don't know what they'd say".  
  
Harry didn't move from his position.  
  
"Harry", Sirius said in a higher tone. "If you don't want to go back for me or for yourself, then go back for your mother", he said tears beginning to form in his eyes. He held them back and continued. "She gave her life, so that you could have a chance to live. Do you really want to throw that chance away"?! He yelled the last line.  
  
When he saw that Harry didn't answer him he looked down at him and started talking in a very angry voice. "Look Harry! You are going back to Hogwarts, and you are going to be safe, even if I have to drag you onto that train kicking and screaming"! He took Harry's shoulders and forced him to look him straight in the eyes. "Promise-me" He shouted. "For the sake of your parents, promise me that you're going to keep yourself safe".  
  
Harry saw tears coming out of Sirius' eyes. Sirius was a very strong man; he even survived azkaban for twelve years without going insane. If he were crying, then that would probably mean that the situation had upset him greatly. "I promise that I'll return to Hogwarts", Harry said in a low voice.  
  
"Good", Sirius said, looking relieved. "Now, I suggest that you go to Gringotts, get your money out, and buy the books that you need for school. I'll leave a minute after you do. I'm sure that everyone will be so busy trying to get a peak at Harry Potter as he leaves, that they won't notice a black dog leaving his room".  
  
"Ok", Harry said. He picked up the letter that was on his lap, stood up and walked out the door.  
  
"His eyes", Sirius said to himself. "There is so much pain in them. If this keeps up he'll…ughhh", he sighed. He turned into a dog waited until he heard that everyone was paying attention to Harry (a dog can hear much better than a human can), and left his room. He ran downstairs and out of the leaky cauldron, unnoticed by anyone. 


	8. Getting There

Something is wrong. I can't seem to make any paragraphs. I will try to fix this as soon as I can.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.  
  
A/n: The reason I haven't updated in a while is because my computer broke down, and those losers at the CPU repair shop lost it at my expense (next time I'm reading the fine print on the contract). And if you think that would be enough well you're wrong. Afterwards I used a computer in a college next to me (They reluctantly let me use it once), finished the Chapter and before I could upload it, the file was corrupted. So a few weeks later I started again, and guess what, that's right it was corrupted again. So I'm tried a new trick, which as stupid as it was, actually worked. So [with great expense to me] without further ado, here's the 8th chapter.  
  
Chapter- 8  
  
The last remaining days went by very slowly for Harry. Aside for getting some money out of Gringotts, and buying all of his school supplies, Harry never left his room. As soon as he was settled into his room, he had returned to his original summer plan: keeping busy. His average day started with him getting out of bed after a sleepless night, exercise, shower, eat breakfast (which was delivered to his room), and spend the rest of the day trying to keep himself busy with books. It had been a lot harder for him now than it had been all summer, because now he didn't only have his previous problems to worry about, but now he had to worry about coming back to school, and face Hermione and the Weasleys.  
  
As the first day of school was getting closer, Harry was becoming more distressed about it. He couldn't concentrate on his studies, couldn't read for enjoyment, he even had trouble eating sometimes. The only thing that stayed on his mind was the first day of school, Hermione, and what she must have thought of him. It was unbearable. There were many times when Harry wanted to run away and never return. To sneak out of the Leaky Cauldron, take all his money out of Gringotts, and live in hiding until things blew over.  
  
He never followed through with this thought, because going along with it would mean breaking his promise to Sirius; and that was completely out of the question. To Harry, Sirius was like a father, and he was one of the only two people that Harry actually looked up to and respected. Breaking a promise to Sirius would be much worse than facing the consequences for something that was his fault anyway. To Harry, the decision had been made, whatever happens, happens; but Harry would not betray Sirius' trust, no matter what.  
  
After many days of worry and anguish, the day that Harry had been dreading finally arrived. The first day of school, the day he would see Hermione and the Weasleys again. Normally, unlike normal kids, Harry would look forward to his first day of school. It would mean freedom and happiness. But not this time; this time it would mean more pain, more anguish, and more sorrow. That was what Harry was expecting.  
  
Harry rolled around in bed all night, thinking about the coming day; wondering if what he was doing was truly the right decision. Thinking about what to say to Hermione when he finally saw her again. He remembered the night he left her, it was the hardest thing he ever did. It took all of his strength to leave her in tears, to not comfort her, to not help her, to just leave. 'What she must think of me', was the phrase that he kept repeating in his head all night.  
  
He got out of bed very early that morning, took a shower, and left the room dragging his trunk with his right hand, and carrying his broom in his left. He stopped as soon as he got to the front door. He ran back up the stairs leaving his trunk and broom near the front door. A second later he arrived with Hedwig's empty cage. He placed it on top of the trunk and was about to leave when a voice stopped him.  
  
"Aren't you even gonna say goodbye?" the voice asked.  
  
Harry looked to where the voice originated, and saw Tom sitting beside one of his tables. "Goodbye Tom," Harry said in a low voice.  
  
"How are you going to get to Kings Cross?" Asked Tom, making Harry turn to him once again.  
  
"I'll use a cab," Harry answered. "I took out some muggle money as well as wizards money out of Gringotts that day. I knew it would come in handy."  
  
"Well, instead of waiting for one to just show up, why I order one to come here," Tom offered.  
  
"Thanks," Harry said.  
  
"I'll get right on it," with that, Tom Walked into the back room, picked up the phone and made the call.  
  
A few seconds later he came back out and told Harry that the cab would arrive in ten minutes. Harry thanked him, and resumed exiting the Leaky Cauldron, when something that Tom said made him stop. "You know, your friends came by looking for you," Tom said.  
  
Harry closed the front door and turned back towards Tom. "Who came by?" he asked.  
  
"It was the Weasleys," Tom casually answered. "They said that they were worried about you."  
  
"What did you tell them?"  
  
"I told them that you were here at one point, but that you left just as quickly as you arrived. I also told them that I didn't know where you were."  
  
"Thanks you." Harry said feeling a little depressed as well as relieved.  
  
"Is something going on between you guys," Tom asked giving Harry a concerned look. When he saw that Harry wasn't answering he just shook and off. "It's okay, you don't have to answer. It's none of my business anyway."  
  
"Thanks", Harry said automatically.  
  
"Well, I guess you'd better get going," Tom said looking down at his watch. "You don't want to keep the muggle waiting, do now."  
  
"Goodbye," Harry said while getting a firm hold onto his trunk. He opened the door and left the Leaky Cauldron.  
  
"They really care about you," Tom said as he watched Harry leave. "Accept their help."  
  
Harry dragged his trunk to the corner of the street carefully trying not to drop Hedwig's cage. He let go of the trunk as soon as he got there, and started looking down the street trying to find the cab that Tom ordered for him.  
  
After waiting for about twenty minutes, Harry was ready to go back to the Leaky Cauldron and ask Tom to call again. He decided that he'd wait five more minutes before going back. He continued to wait, until he couldn't take it anymore, he bent down and grabbed his trunk and was about to go back, when he saw that the cab finally arrived.  
  
'Finally,' Harry thought. 'It's a good thing Tom was there to make the call, or I'd be waiting here forever.'  
  
The cab pulled over right beside Harry. The driver opened the door, stepped out of the car and immediately faced Harry. "Sorry I'm late," he said casually, as if it happened all the time.  
  
"Do you want me to help you with your trunk," the driver offered.  
  
"Thanks," Harry replied.  
  
After Harry and the driver were finished loading all of Harry's stuff inside the car, the driver faced Harry and said "To King's Cross right?"  
  
"How did you know?" Harry asked giving him a quizzical look. "Did Tom tell you?"  
  
"No. A lot of people with owls take the cab to the King's Cross station on this date. I figured your cage was an owls cage."  
  
Harry just stood there silent, not knowing what to say.  
  
"Where do all of you guys go, an owl convention or something?" The driver asked giving Harry a suspicious look.  
  
"Yeah," Harry answered in an awkward way. "Something like that."  
  
"Okay," The driver said. He obviously didn't want to push this any further, so all he said was "get in."  
  
"Great," Harry said feeling relieved. Not being in the mood to be questioned, Harry sat in the back of the cab.  
  
Harry and the driver remained quiet during the entire ride. As soon as they arrived at King's Cross, Harry jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest cart and loaded all of his stuff on it. He was about to leave when the driver yelled out to him.  
  
"Hey!" the driver yelled. "You forgot to pay me!"  
  
Harry immediately stopped in his tracks. "Sorry," he said. He walked by the window handed the driver some money and left. "Keep the change!" he yelled as he returned to his cart.  
  
As soon as he had returned to his cart, he grabbed hold of it and dashed right for platform 9¾.  
  
Platform 9¾ was a secret platform located right between platforms 9 and 10. To get on it, all you had to do was walk through the metal wall dividing the two platforms. The only difficult part was not letting the muggles see you doing it. This would not be a problem for Harry today, however. It was still so early in the morning that almost no one had arrived.  
  
Harry stopped right next to the metal wall dividing platforms 9 and 10, looked around to see if the coast was clear, as soon as he saw that it was, he sprinted through the wall.  
  
As soon as he arrived at platform 9¾, he stopped to see if anyone was there. To his surprise, there were quite a few people there already. Harry saw students chatting, cats crawling around the platform, and he heard owls hooting from their cages. They obviously arrived early in order to get to the platform without being seen by the muggles. Harry didn't recognize anyone he knew so he just headed straight for the train without saying a word.  
  
Inside the train, Harry found an empty compartment at the end of the train. He loaded all of his things inside the compartment, took a deep breath and sat down next to the window. 'This is it', he thought to himself. 'In a few hours Hermione and the Weasleys will arrive.'  
  
  
  
For the next few hours, the same thoughts kept floating around in his head. What will the Weasleys think of him? More importantly what does Hermione think of him? What will he say to her when he sees her again? It was new and weird to him. He never had these kinds of thoughts before. Before Hogwarts he never had any real friends, thanks to Dudley. And all throughout Hogwarts he never did anything horrible to his friends, so there was no need for them to think badly of him.  
  
Harry looked at the clock hanging on the station wall, and realized that the train would leave in a half an hour. 'Well, this is it,' he thought. 'They'll be here any second.'  
  
Harry was getting more and more anxious with every passing second. What would he do when they arrive? What would he say? He was starting to sweat a little. He opened the window for some fresh air, but that didn't help at all.  
  
So, he decided that the best thing to do was to go outside and greet them. 'The first thing I'll do when I see Hermione is apologize.' That was his plan, to try and put the whole thing behind them.  
  
Harry stepped outside of the train, took a deep breath and started to look around. He walked through many crowds, but couldn't find Hermione or the Weasleys anywhere. Maybe they haven't arrived yet.  
  
Harry found an empty corner where he could get a clear view of the entrance to the platform and decided to wait until his either the Weasleys or Hermione would arrive. Harry stood there motionless for about fifteen minutes. 'Why haven't they arrived yet?' Harry wondered. 'Are they even coming back?'  
  
Harry continued to wait, getting anxious once again. Still picturing what their meeting will be like. Then after a few more minutes he noticed two people with red hair walk through the platform entrance. He recognized them as Fred and George Weasley. They were both tall and thin and had the weirdest grins on their faces. Next came Ron and Mrs. Weasley. Harry noticed that Ron didn't grow much over the summer. He looked exactly the same as the previous year. Next was Hermione and Ginny. Ginny looked a little more mature, and she seemed to fill out a bit. Hermione looked exactly like he saw her a few days ago, only now her hair was brown.  
  
Harry wanted to walk up to them, but for some reason he couldn't. His mind told him to, but his legs wouldn't obey. Instead, they turned him around and headed in the opposite direction toward the end of the station.  
  
As soon as he arrived there, he felt something knock him off of his feet, and onto his back. He looked up and saw a person run away. He tried to see who it was, but the person was too far away. Harry couldn't even tell if the person was a boy or girl.  
  
Harry got up, dusted himself off and was about to head back towards the train, when something on the ground caught his eye. It was a book, and a very old one at that. 'That person must've dropped this.' Harry thought. He knelt down and picked up the book. It was old and dusty, the pages were all yellow and ripped; the entire book was held together with spellotape.  
  
He opened the book to a random page and was immediately shocked by what he saw. It was the interious curse. A curse that would make a person grow large and very sharp spikes out of his bones. The spikes would rip through the person's blood vessels, organs, and skin causing the person to die a slow and painful death. Harry turned to another random page and saw another curse, called the venocuous curse; a curse that would change a person's hair into very poisonous snakes, which would immediately bite their host. He turned to another random page a saw a potion called the change of heart potion. This potion would reverse its drinker's personality.  
  
Harry closed the book and realized that this was a book dedicated to the dark arts. 'Who would have a book like this?' Harry wondered.  
  
He reopened the book, and started skimming through it, hoping that he was wrong. That this wasn't really a book about the dark arts. However, he concluded that he was right when he found what he was looking for. It was the avada kedavra curse, aka the killing curse, with an entire chapter to itself.  
  
Harry couldn't believe it. Why would anyone have this book? Harry felt really angry with himself for not seeing the person who ran into him.  
  
Harry sat there for a minute thinking of anyone who might have a book like this. Then it came to him: Malfoy. It had to be him. Who else could it have been?  
  
At that moment Harry remembered what Malfoy said to him on the train in the previous year. He remembered how Malfoy threatened him. "It has to be him," Harry thought out loud. "But why would he bring this book to Hogwarts. It doesn't make sense. If Dumbledore or anyone else would find him with it, then they would be able to connect his father to Voldemort. Something isn't right."  
  
Harry got up and began to look around. His plan was to find Malfoy and confront him at that moment, before the situation got out of hand. 'I'm sure his fingerprints are on this book, there's no way he'll be able to deny it.'  
  
Harry started to look at the crowds and realized that none of the students were there. 'They all must have boarded the train already,' Harry thought. He looked in the direction of the train and saw that it was starting to move. Then he heard a loud whistle blow from the head of the train. The train was starting to accelerate, and Harry wasn't on it.  
  
'Oh no,' Harry thought. 'I must not have heard the warning whistle.'  
  
Immediately, Harry broke into a sprint. He ran as fast as he could hoping that someone on the train would see him running towards them, and tell the conductor to stop the train.  
  
As Harry got near the train, he stopped running and started waving his hands around and yelled for the train to stop. He hoped that someone would see or hear him. However, no one did. Everybody on the train was too busy settling in to notice what was going on outside.  
  
Once again Harry broke into a sprint. He ran in the same direction as the train was accelerating. He continued to wave his hand around as he was running. He finally stopped and took a breath when he reached the end of the line. He looked around and saw that all the parents were giving him strange looks. Harry paid them no mind. All he wanted to do was to get on that train.  
  
Immediately, without thinking twice Harry jumped off the platform and onto the tracks. As soon as landed, he started running after the train. He was running at top speed, while at the same time trying desperately not to trip.  
  
After running for a few minutes he stopped to catch his breath. He looked up at the direction of the train, and realized that it had accelerated too much for him to be able to catch up with it.  
  
Suddenly Harry started to panic. "What am I going to do?" He cried. "Hedwig isn't here, and all my stuff is on that train. My Gringotts key, my clothes, my money, my firebolt." Harry stopped for a moment. His face had lit up as if he had a solution.  
  
"That's it!" He cried out. "My firebolt!" Immediately Harry dug into his pocket and took out his wand. He always made sure to keep it with him when he was in the wizarding world. And at that moment, he was happy that he did. Harry raised his wand and yelled out "accio, firebolt."  
  
A few seconds later, he saw his trusty broomstick flying towards him. He put his wand back in his pocket and caught the broom as soon as it arrived. He was about to mount it, when he noticed that he couldn't grip it with his left hand. He looked down and realized that he still had the book of dark arts in his hand. Through all of that running and waving, the book somehow managed to stay attached to his left hand. Harry tucked the book under his right arm, mounted his broom and immediately flew into the clouds as fast as he could.  
  
When he was stabilized in the air, Harry gripped the book with his left hand once again, while gripping the firebolt in his right.  
  
Harry flew along the tracks hoping to catch up with the train, and try to get inside it somehow. As soon as he saw it, he lowered himself right on top of it. He slowed down when he was close to the train, and allowed it to pass him. When it did, he lowered himself even more so he was at the same level as the back door of the last car. Harry moved in closer to it trying to see if there was enough room to land. "Darn it!" He yelled out. "There's barely enough room to even stand. There's no way I can get off my broom without breaking my neck."  
  
Harry looked around, sighed, and flew up into the clouds once again. Harry looked down sighed again, and began to speed up a bit. 'That's it,' he thought. 'I am going to be in so much trouble when I get there.'  
  
A/N- This chapter was supposed to be a lot bigger, but I decided to split it into two chapters instead. Please read and review-tell me what you want to see. 


	9. Dumbledore's Announcements

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.  
  
Chapter-9 Dumbledore's Announcements  
  
While Harry was flying to Hogwarts on his firebolt, Hermione and the Weasleys were all sitting in the same compartment which Harry left all of his stuff in. Fred, George, and Ron were all playing exploding snap, Ginny was watching them, Ron's owl pigwidgeon was flying around his cage rambunctiously as always, and Hermione was quietly looking out the window and petting Crookshanks, while at the same time wondering where Harry was.  
  
"Hey Hermione," Ron said tugging her on the sleeve, causing Crookshanks to become a bit annoyed. "You sure you don't want to join us? It's a lot of fun."  
  
Hermione just ignored him and continued looking out the window, and petting her cat.  
  
"Come on," Ron persisted. "Are you just going to sit there like that the whole ride? I reckon you can use a nice pick me up."  
  
"Are you sure that all these things belong to Harry?" Hermione asked, obviously not listening to a word that Ron had said.  
  
"Yes I'm sure." Ron answered in complete confidence. "Look." He pointed to the trunk that was standing in the corner. "That is definitely Harry's trunk. And that there," He pointed to an empty cage in another corner. "That is definitely Hedwig's Hedwigless cage."  
  
"Say that five times fast." Muttered Fred.  
  
"I can do it." George spoke up.  
  
"But what about Harry's broom!" Hermione cried, causing all eyes to go back on her. "He'd never go back to Hogwarts without it."  
  
"Hermione," Ron started in a calm voice. "First of all, it's not a broom. It's a firebolt, the best flyer in the world. And I'm pretty sure that there's a good reason for it to missing."  
  
"Well." Hermione said waiting for Ron to continue.  
  
"Well what?" Ron looked at her quizzically.  
  
"What's the good reason?"  
  
"I don't know." Ron stated after a few seconds of silence.  
  
"Just forget it!" Hermione sighed, and turned her head to the window once again.  
  
The entire room remained silent for a few seconds. No said anything, being that no one knew anything appropriate to say at the time.  
  
"Hey, come on," said Fred breaking the silence. "I'm sure everything is okay."  
  
"He's right," Ginny agreed after another moment of silence. "Let's just enjoy the rest of the trip." She turned to Fred ad George and said, "Deal me in."  
  
"You sure you don't want to play?" Asked George, who was looking at Hermione.  
  
"Yeah, I'm sure." Hermione answered nonchalantly.  
  
Unlike all of her friends she wasn't as confident that everything was okay. She had been worried about Harry ever since the night he left her house. She remembered how his eyes looked right before he left her house. They were so cold and frightening, but at the same time it seemed as if he were fighting something inside of himself. It was so hard for her seeing him leave, and knowing that there was nothing she could do to help him.  
  
Hermione raised her right hand and touched the window with her palm. She picked her head up and looked up at the sky, wondering if what happened was her fault. If there was anything she could've done to help. If there was anything she could do in the future, if she got the chance.  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw a small dot fly straight up into the clouds. 'Odd,' she thought. 'Birds don't fly like that.'  
  
Hermione turned back towards everyone else. Many different thoughts filled her head as she investigated the room they were in.  
  
"Ron!" She suddenly yelled, causing Ron to drop all of his cards.  
  
Ron patiently turned to her and was about to say something, when she interrupted him.  
  
"You were the first one in this room right?" She asked looking a bit anxious.  
  
"Yeah?" Ron replied, giving Hermione a weird look.  
  
"Did you see anything different, or not normal?"  
  
Ron looked at her even more strangely now. "Hermione, what's this about."  
  
"Did you open the window?" She asked, completely ignoring his question.  
  
"No."  
  
"Hey, Hermione," George interrupted. "Care to fill us in on what's going on."  
  
"He couldn't have." Hermione thought out loud.  
  
"Who couldn't have?" Asked Fred.  
  
"He wouldn't have." Hermione continued ignoring Fred.  
  
"Who wouldn't have?" Asked George.  
  
Hermione turned to them and was about to tell them that she believed Harry had flown to school, when the compartment doors opened, and in walked three of the group's least favorite people: Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.  
  
Crabbe and Goyle, who only seemed to live in order to do Mafoy's bidding, looked exactly the same as they had had in the previous year. They were both tall, had gorilla like arms, and clueless expressions on their faces.  
  
Malfoy, however did not look the same as he did in the previous year. He still had the same haircut and the same sneer on his face, but everything else was different. His chest and arm muscles bulged through his clothes. His eyes had a very grim and determined look in them. Just the way he was standing told the group that there was something different about his guy. That he was not the same overconfident little snob they had grown to loathe so much.  
  
"Well, well, well," Malfoy began to sneer. "What do we have here."  
  
"Looks like someone's been working out." Fred whispered into George's ear.  
  
Malfoy looked at them with an amused expression, turned to Ron and said, "Looks like someone hasn't."  
  
Crookshanks immediately stood on Hermione's lap and started hissing at the trio that had just walked in.  
  
"Careful," Malfoy said, looking at Hermione and her cat, as it jumped off her lap. "It might be rabid." He turned to Crabbe and Goyle for a second, and then turned back to Hermione. "And keep your eyes on the cat as well."  
  
"Damn it Malfoy!" Ron snapped, giving Malfoy a death glare. "Why don't you just get out of here? In fact, why are you even here? Shouldn't you be in death eater school, now that your leader has returned?"  
  
"Ooh, such harsh words Weasley." Malfoy scoffed. "If you're referring to summer school, I'm afraid that's out. Besides how else am I going to get a chance to humiliate all of you if I'm not here."  
  
"Why do you keep coming into our compartment every year Malfoy?" Hermione cried, giving Malfoy a glare. "Don't you have other people you can annoy?"  
  
"I came in to ask if any of you were entering the tournament?" Malfoy said calmly.  
  
The Weasleys and Hermione just stared at him quizzically.  
  
"By the way, where is your crony, Potter? Did a photo shoot cause him to be late for the train or something?" Malfoy asked looking around the room. "No need to ask him if he's entering. He always needs to do something original every year, in order to show off."  
  
"Harry never shows off!" Ginny snapped, as she got up and faced Malfoy. "You're just jealous of him, that's all."  
  
"Yes, I'm sure that must be it." Malfoy said with sarcasm in his voice.  
  
"By the way." He said, turning his face toward Ginny. "I was just wondering, does Potter actually know your name by now?"  
  
Ginny's face started to turn a little red. She lowered her head a little trying to hide it.  
  
"Just as I thought." Malfoy said in triumph. "He still doesn't even know that you exist." Malfoy stopped to chuckle a bit when he saw that Ginny was on the brink of tears. "Don't worry, I'm sure that one day, he'll see you as more than just an annoying little runt. Then again, maybe it would be better if things stay the way they are. I mean, imagine how it would be if you two got together. He'd buy you fancy presents for your birthday, Christmas, and valentines day, and all you'd be able to get him is a handmade card.held together with spellotape!"  
  
"That's it!" Ron snapped. He jumped up and grabbed Malfoy by the front of his shirt with both of his hands, completely surprising everyone in the room, including Malfoy. "Never make my sister cry in front of me, you got it!" he growled.  
  
Malfoy's look of surprise quickly turned into a look of amusement. "Nice grip." He scoffed in a low voice. Malfoy, then put his right hand on Ron's left, and calmly said. "Here, let me show you mine."  
  
Then suddenly before Ron even knew what hit him, he found himself yelling in pain as Malfoy started twisting his left arm. He tried to release his arm from Malfoy's grip, but to no avail.  
  
Fred and George immediately got up in order to try and help their brother, but were pushed back into their seats by Crabbe and Goyle. They continued to hover over Fred and George making sure they didn't interfere. Ron fell to his knees yelling from the pain that Malfoy was making him feel.  
  
"What's wrong Weasley," Malfoy sneered. "Can't take it."  
  
"Stop it!" Ginny yelled, grabbing Malfoy's left arm and started pulling on it.  
  
Malfoy just shifted his left arm a bit, and caused Ginny to lose her balance a fall to the floor. Fred and George were completely enraged now. They both jumped up, and immediately ended up brawling on the floor with Crabbe and Goyle.  
  
Malfoy just looked down at Ginny and said. "Your brother was stupid enough to pick a fight with me. I have every right to defend myself." He then looked back at Ron and started to laugh a bit.  
  
"Stop!" Hermione yelled, as she took out her wand and pointed it at Malfoy. "Let him go!"  
  
Malfoy just grinned and said, "And if I don't?" He then used his right hand to spin Ron toward his direction, into his awaiting left hand, catching him in a perfect headlock. "Go ahead Mudblood." He tempted. "Let's see how good your aim really is."  
  
Hermione hesitated a bit. She knew that if she fired, she would probably be on target, but for some reason she couldn't do it. She couldn't risk hitting Ron. "You're a coward Malfoy!" She yelled. "Using Ron as a shield."  
  
"I don't need a shield to beat you." He used his left hand to grab hold of Ron's shirt, and then threw him on Hermione, causing her to fall back into her seat with Ron on top of her. "I know you'll be entering, the top four contestants get an O.W.L. accredited towards their academic transcript. There's no way you'd pass up a chance at that."  
  
"What the hell are you talking about Malfoy?" Ron said I a weak voice. His arm was still in agony from Malfoy's torture treatment, and he was trying his best to not show it.  
  
Malfoy looked back and saw that Fred and George were still fighting with Crabbe and Goyle on the floor, that Ginny was just getting up, and that Hermione was holding Ron in place to keep him from charging at Malfoy.  
  
"Listen up!" He yelled, causing everyone to stop what he or she was doing and look up at him. "Unlike some people," He immediately turned his eyes toward Ron. "I haven't been slacking off this summer! I am not the same person I was last year! If any of you wish to enter, I will crush you! I promise you this!"  
  
He looked around and saw that everyone was silent, and he continued. "Make sure you give this message to Potter when you see him."  
  
"Okay, fine." George said in a trembling voice, as he got up to sit back in his seat.  
  
Fred looked at him in an awkward way. He was wondering why George was acting so wimpy right now. He got his answer when George shifted his eyes, and pointed them towards something on Goyle's left-hand side.  
  
"Look," Fred started in the same trembling that George used. "You can do anything you want to us, just don't drink that vial over there." He finished pointed to a covered jug on Goyle's right.  
  
Malfoy immediatley gave one of those 'you gotta be kidding me looks', while Crabbe and Goyle just smiled at each other.  
  
"It's the only thing that makes my little sister happy." George added in.  
  
"It is?" Ginny said with an oblivious voice.  
  
"Yes it is!" Fred growled at her.  
  
"Oh please Weasley!" Malfoy started. "How old do you think we are? There's no way we'd be stupid enough to drink that."  
  
But before Malfoy could finish his sentence, Goyle took the vial and swallowed the whole thing in one gulp.  
  
"Goyle! You idiot!" he scolded, turning a little red. "It was a trick, that's probably some kind of potion."  
  
"Huh." Goyle said, giving Malfoy the same confused face that he gave the teachers whenever they asked him a question.  
  
"Well, it's too late now." Fred said with a chuckle. Take a look at what it's doing to his face.  
  
Immediately everyone turned to Goyle, and saw that his head was getting smaller.  
  
Suddenly, everyone except Hermione and Goyle burst with laughter. Even Malfoy (who was still red in the face), and Crabbe were laughing at Goyle's stupidity.  
  
"Come on," Malfoy said in a half embarrassed, half amused voice. "Let's get out of here."  
  
With that, the trio left the room, while everyone else (except Hermione) continued to laugh.  
  
The laughter died down after a few seconds, but there were still a few chuckles in the air.  
  
"Can you believe that guy?" Ron said, trying to keep himself from bursting out in laughter again. "How can anyone be so stupid?"  
  
"I knew one of them would drink it," George sneered, having already have calmed down. "That's why I said that line specially, to make him look like a complete idiot."  
  
"Well, I hope you're pleased with yourself," Hemione said with a hint of sarcasm. "Now if you don't mind can we get back to what we were talking about?"  
  
"What, Harry?" Ron said casually. "I'm telling you not to worry. His stuff is here so he's probably somewhere on the train. Everyone needs some time to be by themselves."  
  
"Somehow, I doubt that's it." She said to herself.  
  
"What was that?" asked George.  
  
Hermione took a deep breath, exhaled, and just said, "Nothing." Hermione had decided to keep her assumption to herself. Besides, even if she told them it wouldn't matter. Fred, George, and Ron would think that it was cool, and Ginny would think that Harry would never do such a thing.  
  
The group remained silent for about a minute.  
  
"Say," Ginny said breaking the silence. "What do you think Malfoy meant when asked us if we were entering?"  
  
"I have no idea." Hermione said in a low voice.  
  
"That reminds me," Ginny said, looking towards Ron. "Are you okay? How's your arm?"  
  
"It's alright." Ron said casually. He swung his hand around a bit to show that there was nothing wrong with him. "See, I'm not hurt."  
  
"You shouldn't picked a fight with him though." Hermione scolded.  
  
"Well I couldn't let him get away with all the things he said."  
  
"So you let him beat you up instead."  
  
"Yeah, that's about right."  
  
Hermione was about to give Ron a lecture about how irresponsible and stupid he was being, when the door to their compartment swung open again. Hermione, and the others looked at the door expecting to see Malfoy again, but instead they all saw someone else.  
  
"Olivea!" Hemione said with a little enthusiasm.  
  
"Hey," Olivea said giving the whole group a wink.  
  
"Well how do you like it? Did you meet a lot of people?" Asked Hermione.  
  
"Yeah everyone was very nice." Olivea answered. "The only people I didn't like were those three guys I saw in the hallway. They knocked me down and didn't even apologize."  
  
"Did one of those three have an unusually small head?" Asked Fred.  
  
"Yeah, how'd you know?" She asked, giving Fred a quizzical look. "And how did his head end up like that anyway?"  
  
"We knew because those three are jerks." Ron answered.  
  
"And the small head is our doing." George answered with pride in his voice.  
  
"Olivea, did you see Harry anywhere on the train?" Hermione asked, changing the subject.  
  
"Harry? No I didn't see him." She answered. "Why, you can't find him?"  
  
"It's a long story." Ron said.  
  
"So." Olivea started as she took a seat near Hermione, and petted Crookshanks [on the floor] a bit. "How long is this ride?"  
  
"Not much longer." Answered George. "Just another couple of hours."  
  
"After that." Fred continued. "All the first years take boats to the castle, and all the others take horseless carriages."  
  
"Wow." Olivea said in an amazed voice. "That's really amazing. Too Bad I didn't get a chance to be a first year here. You know, take a boat ride and everything."  
  
"Oh don't worry." Ron drawled. "The whole thing is done only to single you out, and get you all nice and scared for the Sorting ceremony."  
  
"What do you mean?" Olivea asked. "All you do is put on a hat, and it decides where you go. Or at least that's what Dumbledore did to me in his office."  
  
"Yeah we know that, but the first years don't know that." George said slyly.  
  
"How about a game of exploding snap?" Fred offered. "You in, Olivea?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Hermione?"  
  
"No thanks." Hermione answered, turning to the window once again.  
  
The group remained this way for the rest of the trip.  
  
A few hours later the train had finally arrived at Hogsmead station. By that time the sky was already dark.  
  
Hermione, Olivea, and Ron got out of the train and waited by the exit, hoping that Harry would come by. When he didn't, both Hermione, and Ron began to worry a bit.  
  
"Where do you think he could be?" Ron asked.  
  
Hermione didn't say anything. She just shook her head a bit.  
  
"Relax." Olivea said, lightening the mood a bit. "He probably got out before us. Let's just go to the dining hall, and I'm sure we'll find him there."  
  
Hermione and Ron both agreed, because neither could come up with a better plan at the time.  
  
As they headed toward the carriages, Hermione and Ron heard a familiar yell.  
  
"Firs' years this way! Firs' years this way!" It was Hagrid, the Gamekeeper, and Care of Magical Creatures Professor at Hogwarts. He was twice as tall as any normal man, and about ten times as wide. This was okay for him of course, because Hagrid was a half giant.  
  
"Firs' years this way!" He continued to yell.  
  
"A'right there yeh two!" He yelled, as he saw Hermione and Ron.  
  
"Hey Hagrid!" Ron yelled back at him.  
  
"'ey, where's Harry?" Hagrid asked looking around the crowded row of students.  
  
"He's already headed towards the carriages." Hermione lied. "He said he was very tired and wanted to get to the castle as soon as possible."  
  
"A'right then." He said turning away. "Firs' years this way!"  
  
"Come on guys." Olivea said. "Let's go."  
  
"So who was that guy anyway?" Olivea asked, as they approached the carriages.  
  
"That's Hagrid." Ron answered as he followed Hermione into the carriage.  
  
"So what does he do here? And why is he so. you know. big?" Olivea asked when they were all seated in the carriage.  
  
"He teaches our the Care of Magical Creatures class, and he's also the gamekeeper around here." Hermione answered.  
  
"And the reason he's so big is because he's a half giant." Ron added.  
  
"A half giant!" Olivea snapped out of surprise.  
  
"Don't worry." Hermione reassured. "Hagrid is a very sweet man."  
  
"Ok, whatever." Olivea said sounding unsure.  
  
After a few minutes the carriages came to a stop right I front of the castle, and all the students exited the carriages, and entered to castle.  
  
As soon as Olivea entered the castle, her jaw dropped from amazement. The castle was glowing brightly, there were ghosts flying through walls, the armors were all singing, and the portraits were all talking to each other.  
  
"Wow!" She said, looking completely in awe. "It's not like this during the summer."  
  
"Wait till you see the dining hall." Ron said with a smirk.  
  
"I can't wait, let's go."  
  
With that they all headed towards the dining hall.  
  
As soon as they arrived in the dining hall corridor, they noticed that whole crowds of students were standing outside the dining hall.  
  
"What's going on?" Hermione thought out loud. "Why isn't anyone going in?"  
  
"It's Peeves." A voice came from Hermione's right side. Hermione turned and saw that it was Ginny.  
  
"Who's Peeves?" Asked Olivea.  
  
"Peeves is the school poltergeist." Ginny answered casually. "It seems that this time Peeves has decided to take the passive approach."  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.  
  
"Come up and see." Ginny said, as she tried to squeeze to the front herself.  
  
Hermione, Ron, and Olivea followed her through the line. As soon as they were able to get to the front they saw what Ginny meant.  
  
Peeves was standing in front of the door wearing what looked like sumo underwear, holding a sign that read 'Give Me Dinner, Or Give Me Life', and chanting "Heck no, I won't go!", and whenever a student tried to walk past him, he would hit them with the sign.  
  
Hermione just looked at him in a disgusted manner. "I can't believe he's trying to compare himself with Mahatma Gandhi."  
  
"Who?" Ginny asked looking at her quizzically.  
  
Hermione just shook her head and said, "Nevermind, it's a muggle thing.  
  
"Peeves!" she called out to him in a scolding voice. "What are you doing?"  
  
Peeves looked at her and said. "They're not letting Peeves inside for dinner. So until they do, Peeves is going on a hunger strike!"  
  
Hermione put her right hand on her forehead, as if she were having a headache.  
  
"Why is he referring to himself as the third person?" Olivea whispered into Hermione's ear. "Olivea thinks that's creepy."  
  
"Peeves!" Hermione yelled, completely ignoring Olivea. "If you don't move right now, I am going to call a teacher!"  
  
Peeves just ignored her and started singing "I shall not be moved".  
  
"Okay Peeves, you win." An all-familiar voice came from Hermione left. Hermione looked and saw that it was Malfoy. "But it's not our call on whether you get in or not, it up to the house ghosts." Malfoy continued. "But don't worry, I'll talk to the BLOODY BARON for you, and see what he thinks of your little protest."  
  
"OH NO!" Peeves yelled out in horror. "Not his bloodiness, Peeves will be good, Peeves will be good!" And with that Peeves immediately vanished from sight.  
  
"You see," Malfoy sneered. "You just have to know how to talk to beings like those. Hmph. A Hunger strike." Malfoy just chuckled a bit a headed towards the door.  
  
"I would've handled it!" Hermione called out after him.  
  
"Come on!" Olivea said excitedly, while grabbing Hermione by her right arm. "I can't wait to see the dining hall!"  
  
"Yeah, and I'm starving." Ron added.  
  
As soon as they entered the dining hall, Olivea's jaw dropped once again. The house tables were all decorated with cloths colored with the corresponding house colors. On top of the cloths stood beautiful golden plates, goblets, knives, and forks. There were candles hovering all throughout the room lighting up every single inch of the room. And the ceiling was made to look like the night sky, which that night was clear, so the students were easily able to see the stars. All the teachers [except for Professor McGonagall] were already seated at the teachers table right in front of all the house tables.  
  
"Yeah, I have to admit, it is pretty impressive." Hermione said with a hint of pride in her voice. "Come on, let's take our seats.  
  
"Oh, and by the way, I'm really glad you're in Gryffindor."  
  
"Yeah me too." Ron agreed. "It's a good thing that you didn't get in Slytherin. That's the worst house here."  
  
"Yeah, I heard." Olivea said.  
  
The trio took their seats at the Gryffindor table, right near the Weasley twin, and their friend Lee Jordan; a Black seventh year with dreadlocks; and across from them was Neville Longbottom, a portly, forgetful, accident prone, fifth year, and Dean Thomas, a tall, black, Muggleborn fifth year.  
  
"So what happens now?" Olivea asked looking at Hermione.  
  
Hermione didn't answer right away. She was distracted, because she was trying to find Harry, in the crowd. "He's not here." She whispered to herself.  
  
"Hello, Hermione." Olivea said while waving her hand in front of Hermione's face.  
  
"Sorry," Hermione said quickly, as if she had just come out of a trance. "I was trying to find Harry."  
  
"Where is he anyway?" Ron said looking around the table.  
  
"Hermione just shook her head, and said, "I don't know."  
  
"Relax." Olivea said. "I'm sure that Dumbledore knows where he is, or else he wouldn't just be sitting up front doing nothing."  
  
"Yeah," Hermione sighed. "I guess you're right."  
  
"Of course I am. So what happens now?"  
  
"Now all the first years will be sorted into all the different houses. Then we're going to eat."  
  
"I can't wait for the food." Ron said, drooling a bit. "I wonder what the house elves made tonight?  
  
"Speaking of which." He turned to Hermione. "Whatever happened to 'spew', you haven't mentioned anything about your little club all this time."  
  
"What's spew?" Olivea asked.  
  
"It's not spew!" Hermione said, getting irritated. "It's S.P.E.W., the So."  
  
"Basically," Ron interrupted. "Hermione had this thing about house elves last year. She was trying to get them to start a riot."  
  
"I was not!" Hermione yelled, causing heads to turn towards her. When she saw this, she lowered her voice to just above a whisper. "I was only trying to help them secure a future of financial security, and liberation."  
  
"In other words you were trying to get them to riot."  
  
"Well Dobby like his life the way it is now."  
  
"Dobby was working for the Malfoys. Anyone could go insane there."  
  
Hermione was about to argue, but thought better of it. She just stayed quiet until the Professor McGonagall came in holding the sorting hat, and led a group of very scared looking first years into the great hall.  
  
As they passed the table and headed for the front, Fred and George both pretended to slit their own throats with their knives, causing a few of the first years to shiver a bit.  
  
As soon as all the first years were up at the front of the room, Professor McGonagall placed the hat onto the chair.  
  
At first the hat just sat there not doing anything, which calmed some of the nervous first years. But then after a few seconds the hat came to life, and started singing, which scared all the first years.  
  
"I'm the sorting hat  
  
I may not look cute  
  
But if you want to know where you belong  
  
Then there's no one more astute  
  
"There are four different houses for me to choose from,  
  
And only one certain house in which you belong  
  
Everyone has certain house, which they belong in  
  
You may not even be in the same house, as your identical twin  
  
"It all depends on your personality  
  
The characteristics and choices that make you unique  
  
It could your brains, it could your brawn  
  
That'll help me decide, in which house you belong  
  
"So, hello new class, and welcome to school  
  
No need to be afraid, just sit on the stool  
  
On your head is where, you will put me on  
  
It's really that easy, so let's get it on  
  
"I might put you in Gryffindor  
  
Home of the noble and stout  
  
Because nobility, and bravery  
  
Is what Gryffindor's about  
  
"Or maybe in Ravenclaw  
  
Is the best place for you  
  
Where wisdom and knowledge  
  
Are highly valued  
  
"Or maybe in Hufflepuff  
  
Home of the loyal and kind  
  
Cause in Hufflepuff  
  
It's things like that that you will find  
  
"Or maybe in Slytherin  
  
Is where you belong  
  
Where they all believe  
  
That cleverness makes you strong  
  
So put me on, don't be afraid  
  
Don't worry, I won't bite  
  
I'm just going place in the house  
  
In which I'm sure you'll feel right."  
  
  
  
As soon as the hat finished, the entire school erupted in applause.  
  
"Can you believe it?" Ron said low enough just for Hermione to hear over the applause. "That hat keeps getting worse every year. That was the most horrible one yet."  
  
"I'd like to see you try to come up with a new song every year for a few centuries." Hermione shot back at him.  
  
As soon as the applause died down, Professor McGonagall, opened the parchment full of names, and began to read aloud. "ADAMS, JASON!"  
  
A boy with dirty blond hair, and a smirk on his face walked up to the stool, sat on it and let professor McGonagall put the hat on his head. "SLYTHERIN!" the hat yelled after a few seconds. As the boy headed towards his table, everyone at the Slytherin table started applauding him.  
  
"AQUINSA, HARRIET!"  
  
A small shaking girl went up and took a seat on the stool. "HUFFELPUFF!"  
  
"CROSSMAN, EDWARD."  
  
"Say Hermione," Ron whispered so low that only she could hear. "Do you know who our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is?"  
  
Hermione just shook her head. She looked up at the table and saw that there was an empty seat, with no plate or goblet next to it. "Maybe they haven't been able to find a new one?"  
  
"I hope this doesn't mean that we'll have Snape as our new teacher." Ron groaned. "There's no way I'd be able to survive this year if he is."  
  
Hermione just nodded in agreement. Professor Snape was the Potions master at Hogwarts; a tall, burly man, with greasy black hair. All the students, except those in his house-Slytherin, hated him.  
  
After about a half an hour, after all the students were sorted into their houses, Professor the Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts; A tall, thin man, with a hooked nose and a very long white beard, stood up in order to address the whole school.  
  
"Before we start with out meal, I would like to say a few words." The entire room became quiet. After waiting for a few seconds and making sure that he had everyone's attention, he once again opened his mouth, and said, "And here they are: 'a few words', thank you."  
  
The entire room burst into applause, Dumbledore sat down, and the food immediately appeared onto the plates.  
  
The foods consisted of honey-roasted chicken, roast turkey, pork, veal, beef, potatoes, pasta, salads, everything you'd need to feed a hundred armies was there.  
  
"Wow," Olivea sighed, and licked her lips. "Everything looks so good. I don't know where to start." She took some salad, potatoes and chicken, and put it on her plate.  
  
Ron just topped off his plate with a bit of everything, while Hermione just took some salad and chicken. It's true that she was hungry, but she was still very worried about Harry, which suppressed her appetite a bit.  
  
After all the students were finished with their dinner and desert, and the plates were all cleared from the table, Dumbledore once again stood up to address the school.  
  
"Settle down, students settle down!" As soon as he saw that the room had quieted, he lowered his voice a little.  
  
"I trust that you all enjoyed your meal tonight, I know that I definitely have." He said with a chuckle.  
  
"Now, I have a few start of the term notices to announce.  
  
"First of all, let the first years note that the Forest outside of the school building is forbidden to all students.  
  
"Also this year, the seventh floor in the western tower is undergoing renovation. There will be spells and enchantments flying throughout the entire floor. Therefore, the teachers and myself have decided that it would be better if we closed off the entire tower from the students. The last thing anyone one of us would want is to have our noses and mouths transformed into bricks or pieces of wood. It would be quite a while before you can find someone who can help you if you're in the tower, and you'll probably die from lack of air. So like I said before, the western tower is forbidden to all students."  
  
Dumbledore stopped for a moment to take a breath.  
  
"On a lighter note," He continued. "I would like to say that we will have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher arriving tomorrow.  
  
"Also I would like to announce that this year, the school will host a school wide wizards duel, in which all students fourth year and above can enter. The top four will get an O.W.L. accredited to them. And the winner will receive a trophy and his name will be remembered in this school forever."  
  
All the students immediately started whispering to each other.  
  
"Please, Please. You will all have time to talk about this later, I am not finished yet.  
  
"The details of the duel will be explained later," Dumbledore continued.  
  
"Now, about all those petitions that all you girls sent in last year. I would have you know now that they have been." the entire room quieted down to hear this. "Accepted, and we will have another dance this year similar to that of the Yule Ball!"  
  
At that, the entire room started cheering and clapping louder than they had all night (including Hermione). Dumbledore tried to calm them down but saw that all of his efforts were fruitless, so he just gave the prefects the go ahead to take their houses back their dorms.  
  
Meanwhile, while all of the students were cheering inside of the great hall, Harry was by the lake leaning against a tree, and looking towards the building.  
  
"Judging by the sound of their cheers, it looks like Dumbledore has going all out in order the keep happiness in hogwarts." Harry said to himself. "Too bad I can't be in there with them."  
  
Harry had been outside all throughout the celebration. Being that all of his Hogwarts clothes were locked away in his room, and because he didn't know the password yet he couldn't get them out. The whole time he was outside, Harry was hoping that none of the teachers noticed that he was missing. It was highly improbable, but not impossible.  
  
As soon as Harry heard that the cheering had died down, and the school song being sung, he knew the students were going to be heading up to their Dormitories.  
  
"Only a few more minutes," Harry sighed to himself. " And then I'll go and meet everyone at the entrance."  
  
Harry continued to stand there, when all of a sudden he noticed something sparkling across the lake. He looked across and saw a white flash of light sparkling directly into his eyes. The light was so bright, that it blinded Harry for a few seconds causing him to almost involuntarily cover his face with his hands.  
  
It took Harry, about a minute to regain his vision. When he did he looked back across the lake and realized that whatever that white light was, was now gone.  
  
Harry didn't make too much of this. A little bit of bright light was not really anything unusual in Hogwarts.  
  
Harry continued to stand there, waiting for the right moment to go back to his tower.  
  
As he continued to stand near the tree, he noticed that he began hearing some kind of unknown beat in his ears. Harry just ignored this. He assumed that it must have been from fatigue and hunger. He continued to stand and ignore the beat, even though it was getting faster with every passing second.  
  
Harry thought that now was the perfect time to head up towards the castle, but as soon as he took a step away from the tree, he realized that his foot was as heavy as if it were made out of lead. He tried with all of his might to move his legs, but for some reason, his legs just stayed in one place. He tried harder, only causing himself to trip and fall face first into the lake. Harry struggled to tread water, but his legs were not able to move for some reason. In desperation, Harry grabbed a part of the tree and tried to pull himself onto the shore, but then he realized that his left hand had stopped functioning as well. Once again Harry was starting to sink to the bottom. Harry immediately used his available hand to take out his wand. He pointed it to the bark of a tree, yelled out a spell (only bubbles came out of his mouth), and turned that tree bark into snake. He yelled out another spell, which caused a wave around him allowing him a few seconds above water.  
  
"HELP ME!" Harry yelled to the snake in parseltongue.  
  
The snake immediately went in the water after him, while having its tail tied to the end of the tree.  
  
After a few minutes the snake was able to pull Harry out onto land.  
  
"Thanks," Harry muttered, as he turned it back into a tree bark.  
  
As soon as he finished casting the spell, he realized that he has lost use of his right hand as well. Harry continued to try and get his body parts to move, but nothing he was doing was working. It was only tiring him out.  
  
Then he noticed that it was getting harder for him to breathe. Harry knew that if he didn't get some help he might end up dead. He tried to crawl toward the castle on his stomach. But it wasn't working, and his hoarse breathing only became worse.  
  
Then the entire field in front of him started to become blurry, and darker than before. His hoarse breathing became faster as the field was becoming blurrier, until finally everything turned completely dark, and Harry's breathing stopped completely. 


	10. The Calling

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter  
  
A/N: Please tell me what I'm doing wrong in my story, tell me how to make it better.  
  
Chapter 10  
  
"What was the start of all of this?  
  
"Why did the cruel goddess of fate deal us such a horrible hand?  
  
"Where did we go wrong?  
  
"When did the world turn into what it is?  
  
"Who decided to shape this world the way we see it now?  
  
"We may never know the answers to these questions, because we do not understand what these questions mean. Each question has an answer that contradicts the other question, which only leads to more questions. I guess that the real question is: why do we ask ourselves these questions?  
  
"Is it curiosity?  
  
"Is it a necessity for living?  
  
"Or is it just our nature to want to figure things out?  
  
"If that is so, then the question that we must answer first would be: When did it all truly begin?  
  
"Was it a year ago, when the evil one was resurrected?  
  
"Was it a few years ago, when you released the chains binding the dark one?  
  
"Was it around fourteen years ago, when the evil one was defeated?  
  
"Was it about seventy years ago when the evil one was born?  
  
"Or was it over two hundred million years ago, when I battled the dark one for the future of this planet, thereby reshaping the future into what it is now?  
  
"The correct answer is, that all of these moments play a very significant role in what is happening, and in what is about to happen. The planet is about to undergo another trial period, one, which will once again reshape this planet's future for the better, or the worse.  
  
"What will you do when the day of reckoning comes?  
  
"Will you fight a losing battle?  
  
"Or will you run away?  
  
"Will you side with the darkness?  
  
"Or will you side with the light?  
  
"The answers to these new questions cannot be answered right now. It all depends on you. Think of what is important to you; of what you want to do.  
  
"Once you have made your decision, follow that decision to the end, and see where it leads you. Follow it through to end, and don't look back." 


	11. The Forbidden Revelation

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter…Although I'd like to.

Chapter 11-The Forbidden Revelation

                Harry felt something shake him as he slowly started to open his eyes. At first everything was a complete blur, but after a moment went by, the picture started to come together. As soon as he was able to see clearly though, he started wishing that he were still unconscious; for standing over him was Professor McGonagall with the thinnest mouth he'd seen so far. 

Professor McGonagall was the transfiguration teacher, who always wore a stern look and had her hair in a bun. The first sight of her immediately gave all students the idea that she was definitely someone who they shouldn't cross.

"Are you awake yet!" She grunted as she looked down at Harry.

"I think so," Harry responded as he sat up and started rubbing the back of his head.

"You do realize that you missed every single class today," She said as her mouth started getting thinner.

"Sorry." Harry said in a low voice.

"Come with me," Professor McGonagall said as she turned around and started to head towards the castle.

Harry immediately got up, picked up his firebolt and the book that he had found at the station, and sprinted after Professor McGonagall. By the time he caught up to her Harry was starting to become a little more nervous. He had crossed many boundaries and broken many school rules before. He was even threatened with expulsion by Dumbledore once; and Dumbledore had been the kindest and most understanding person Harry had met. 

As soon as he entered the castle Harry noticed that there were no students walking around the hall nor were there any teachers, or prefects, or even ghosts for that matter.

"Excuse me," Harry called out as he continued to sprint after her. "Where is everybody? I can't seem to find any of the students?"

"Everyone is having dinner in the great hall." Professor McGonagall answered in a stern voice, which told Harry that he shouldn't ask her anymore questions for now.

   However even if Harry wanted to, he couldn't. He was too busy recovering from shock. 'It's dinner already. Have I really slept that long?' Harry thought to himself. 'Of course I did. I did miss all of my classes after all.' 

Harry looked up and saw that Professor McGonagall was leading him inside her office. 'She's not going to take me to Dumbledore's office?' Harry thought as he walked in after her.

As soon as he walked in, Professor McGonagall turned to him and started glaring him straight in the eye. After a second she stretched out her hand and pointed to a seat near her desk and quietly said, "sit."

Harry nervously sat down and started to look at the enraged teacher. 

She walked around her desk not taking her eyes away from Harry's. She quietly sat down, opened a drawer, took something out and put it on the table in front of Harry.

There was a minute of silence in the room, as Harry started to get even more nervous. "Um," Harry started breaking the silence. "What exactly is that you put on the table professor?"

"Why don't you look down and find out." Professor McGonagall answered in the same stern voice. "Or have you forgotten how? Just like you had forgotten how to use a train, and like how you have forgotten how to go to class."

Harry was a little afraid to take his face away from professor McGonagall's, but nevertheless he looked down and realized that what she put down was something small and silvery with the letter "P" on it. Harry looked back up at professor McGonagall. "Is that a prefect's badge?" He asked, looking completely confused.

"My, how very perceptive you are." She answered with sarcasm in her voice. "Yes, it is." She said after another moment of silence. "And it's yours." She added.

Harry was completely stunned. Not only had he avoided getting expelled, but he was also made a prefect of the school. Harry opened his mouth to say 'thank you', but the only things that came out were grunts and gasps.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Professor McGonagall said, getting impatient. "Take it already, so we can move on."

Harry took the badge looked down at it disbelievingly, looked back up towards Professor McGonagall, opened his mouth and said, "Why?"

Professor Mdgonagall's eyebrow rose for a second, and went back down almost as fast. "Why not?" She calmly said. "You did pretty well in your classes, except for potions that is. You did win the Triwizards Tournament, a feat that not many fourth years can accomplish. And I'm starting to believe that the only way for you to obey the rules, is by having you enforce the rules."

"But I thought that Hermione was the new Gryffindor prefect?" Harry said as he looked down at his badge again.

"She is." Professor McGonagall stated. "And so are you. I can have as many prefects as I want. Or as few." She ended with a leer.

"Well, thank you very much professor." Harry said. With that Harry got up turned around and headed towards the door.

"Mr. Potter!" Professor McGonagall called, just as Harry was a few feet from the door. 

Harry turned around and saw her pointing at the chair that Harry had just got up from. "Sit", she said once again, in the same quiet voice.

Harry slowly walked over to the seat and sat down. 'I knew there was going to be more.' He thought to himself.

"About that request that you made, to join professor Vector's arithmancy class." She started giving Harry the same leer she had been giving him for the last couple of minutes. "As you know there is no room for you in the beginner's class. You'll be forced to take the intermediate class. Being that you're so far behind, I am going to assign Miss Granger as your tutor." Harry's face turned completely white with shock. "She'll help you catch up so as you won't fail the class…"

"Um, professor," Harry interrupted. "Can't you get me another tutor? Someone else? Anyone else?"

Professor McGonagall looked at him in an odd way and said, "Of course not. Miss Granger is the best student in professor Vector's class. She's probably the only one capable of such a feat anyway." Professor McGonagall stopped for a second, took a deep breath and continued. "I, for one thought that your request was completely absurd, and would never have granted it myself. It was Professor Dumbledore who insisted on letting you join the class. I still don't know why he did it though."

Harry just sighed and nodded. He was still upset about what had happened between him and Hermione, and was scared to see her again. He wondered if she would forgive him for what had happened. But even if she did it wouldn't matter. Things wouldn't just go back to the way they were before. Harry knew that he and Hermione probably wouldn't be as close as they were before, not after what he had done.

"Now, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall said snapping him out of his thoughts. "I would like to talk to you about your choice in transportation to the school." Harry gulped. "What made you think that you couldn't take the train here?"

Harry sighed and started to go into what had happened to him while he was at the train station. As he was telling her about what had happened, her eyebrows started to rise in concern. "And I didn't have Hedwig or any money with me, and all of my stuff was on the train, I really had no other choice professor." Harry finished.

Professor McGonagall looked down into Harry's hand and asked him if the book that he was holding was the dark arts book that he told her about.

"Yes professor," he answered as he held the book in front of professor McGonagall, so she could get a good look at it. 

Professor McGonagall took the book and opened it to a random page. She looked around the page and turned to a different one. She immediately closed the book and started glaring towards Harry. "Is this some kind of joke Potter?!" She snapped.

"What do you mean professor?" Harry asked looking confused.

Professor McGonagall opened the book and put it right in front of Harry's face. As soon as Harry looked at it he became even more confused, because the pages were all completely blank.

"But I saw it, I saw the interious curse, and the venocuous curse in there," Harry said, more to himself that to professor McGonagall. "And I also saw the Avada Kedavra curse in there."

Professor McGonagall took out her wand and pointed at the book. She tried about three different revealing spells, but the pages still remained blank. 

She looked back at Harry, her mouth thinning once again. "If this is your idea of a joke Mr. Potter, I can assure you that it is not a funny one." She said in a very low voice.

Harry was completely dumbfounded by now. "But I, I saw it!" Harry said a little more loudly than he had meant to. "It also had the…"

"That is enough Mr. Potter!" Professor McGonagall interrupted. "I shall take this book to the headmaster, and while I'm at it I'll also place your broom back where it belongs. Because you are going to be serving your first detention tonight."

"First?" Harry looked at her quizzically.

"That's right, the first of five detentions…"

"FIVE!" Harry yelled out accidentally.

"And a Saturday detention as well." Professor McGonagall added. 

Harry's mouth opened to say something, but before any words could come out, professor McGonagall said, "And you should be happy that's all you're getting!"

She opened her drawer and took out a parchment and started writing something on it. After she was finished she handed Harry the parchment. "Your first detention will be with professor Hagrid in the forbidden forest."

Harry's eyes immediately grew wide. "The forbidden forest?" He said with disbelief.

"That's right." Professor McGonagall nodded. "After you are finished with your detention, you will have the professor sign that parchment. And I warn you if you don't do as you are told the parchment will shine red, and I will know that you either forged the signature, or that professor Hagrid had let you off the hook. I already know that you're good friends with him, and that would be just like him to do something like that."

Harry looked down at the parchment and then back up towards professor McGonagall, who had magically made a plate with sandwiches and a goblet of pumpkin juice appear on her desk. "Now eat up, and as soon as you are finished, you are to go straight down towards professor Hagrid's hut and wait for him there. I have to return to the great hall." With that she got up, took Harry's book and firebolt and walked towards the door. Before she exited she looked back towards Harry and said, "I know when we warned you before, you refused to listen to us, so I'm only going to say that this had better be the last time I have to tell you this: No MORE DETECTIVE WORK HERE, understand? Times are more dangerous now than they have ever been before. Just stay out of trouble this year. I mean it!"

Harry nodded, and said, "Yes professor." With that professor McGonagall left the room.

As soon as she left Harry leaned back in his chair and gave a sigh of relief. After what had happened, Harry was sure that he'd be expelled.

'I wonder why the book was completely blank anyway?' Harry thought to himself. 'Maybe I did something to it while I was waiving it around?'

Harry looked at the sandwiches with longing in his eyes. It had been over two days since he ate anything. 'Oh well,' he thought. 'I'm sure that Dumbledore will get to the bottom of this. And he'll probably figure out who brought it to Hogwarts in the first place.'

With that, Harry put his prefect's badge in his pocket, and reached for a turkey sandwich.

After two sandwiches and a few goblets of pumpkin juice, Harry grabbed the parchment that professor McGonagall gave him and headed off towards Hagrid's hut. As he walked through the hallway towards the exit he once again noticed that there was no one around the halls. 'Odd,' he thought. 'There should at least be some ghosts flying around?'

"Hello," said a voice from out of nowhere.

Harry looked around and didn't see anyone around. "Who's out there?" Harry called out. "Is anyone here?"

Just then a ghost of a girl with glasses appeared in front of Harry. "Hello Harry." The ghost said in a melancholy voice.

"Hi Myrtle." Harry said, with a hint of annoyance. "Nice to see you."

   "You're just saying that." Myrtle snapped. "You never even visited me after your second year. Oh let's all ignore ugly, four-eyed Myrtle. Just because she's dead means she doesn't care for visitors!" She ended with tears beginning to foam in her eyes.

"Myrtle, do you know where all the other ghosts are?" Harry asked.

"They're having a meeting, and once again they're leaving me out." Myrtle sobbed, as more tears began to appear. 

"What kind of a meeting is it? Does it have something to do with the dark lord?" Harry asked with anxiety in his voice.

"No, sir Nicholas was rejected from the headless hunt again. He became so miserable, that the other ghosts decided to cheer him up, by throwing him a party! They're making preparations for his party right now!" By now Myrtle's eyes began to rain across the hall. "But they never throw a party for Myrtle whenever she's miserable!"

"That's why you're walking around the halls?" Harry asked.

"Uh huh," She managed to say between sobs. "I wanted to go back to my toilet, but it's been sealed off with magic this year."

"Why?"

"I don't know, but now there's nowhere for me to go."

"Well, it's been nice talking to you Myrtle, but I have to go to Detention now." Harry said. With that he turned on his heal and walked off swiftly.

"Oh sure, run away from Myrtle!" She yelled after him. "Just because she's not a pretty picture to look at, means you can't stand around her!"

Harry just rolled his eyes and kept going. 'Honestly, she complains about every little thing. She doesn't know what it's like to have real problems.' He walked fast until he was out of range of Myrtle's crying. When he saw that he was, he slowed down and calmly headed towards the front door.

A few minutes later, Harry arrived at Hagrid's cabin. Harry figured that Hagrid was still at dinner, but decided to knock on his door just I case. As soon as he knocked, he heard a sound of a dog running towards the door, and of a man grunting, "Back Fang, back!"

"Hagrid's home?" Harry whispered to himself, just as the door flew open, and a man with a crossbow emerged on the other side.

"Who is it?!" Hagrid yelled as he started looking around.

"Down here." Harry said.

Hagrid looked down, and as soon as he saw it was Harry, he put down the crossbow, and wiped his brow in relief. "Oh Harry," he said. "Thank goodness it's jus' yeh."

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

"Nothing." Hagrid said very quickly. "Why would yeh think that anything's wrong?"

Harry was about to answer, but thought better of it. "I'm supposed to serve detention with you tonight."

"Yeh are?" Hagrid looked at Harry suspiciously. "Since when?"

"Since a few minutes ago." Harry took out the parchment and handed it to Hagrid. "You're supposed to sign it after I'm finished."

Hagrid read the parchment carefully, looked down at Harry and said, "Okay wait out here, I'll be out in a sec." Hagrid went back into his hut, while Harry just sat down on the steps.

'Hagrid is really acting weird,' Harry thought. 'I wonder what's wrong?' Harry looked back towards Hagrid's hut, turned around and just shrugged it off. 'Maybe I'll find out some other time.'

A few minutes later Hagrid came out of his hut carrying four small cages in his hands. "Billywigs," He said as soon as he saw Harry looking at him.

Harry just looked at him in a confused manner.

"Yeh and I are going to find us some billywigs in that there fores'. Four to be exact." Hagrid walked down the stairs past Harry, turned around and said. "Do yeh know wha' a billywig is?"

Harry nodded. "They're small creature that fly by spinning around. They have huge stingers, and if a person gets stung, he'll end up levitating, sometimes uncontrollably."

"Too righ'," Hagrid said. "These billywigs are fer yer class tomorrow. I'm a little behind in my work. I guess professor McGonagall, though' I could use some more help or someat."

'But Hagrid's never behind when it comes to magical creatures,' Harry thought to himself. 'Something's wrong.'

"Well, we'd better get going Harry, those buggers are bloody hard to find, specially at night." Hagrid turned around and started walking towards the forest. As soon as Harry saw that Hagrid was leaving, he jumped off the step and sprinted after Hagrid.

As soon as Harry had entered the forbidden forest a chill rose up his spine. He had only been in the forest twice before, and each time he came in contact with a life threatening experience. The first time Voldemort himself tried to kill him. Lucky for Harry, Firenze, a centaur saved his life. The second time a colony of giant spiders wanted to eat him and Ron. They were both saved by Mr. Weasley's car that time. Both of those events were more than enough to make Harry want to stay away from that forest forever; but here he was, once again, inside the forest looking for little creatures that were hard enough to capture during the daytime, at night. 

The forest was darker than usual that night. The trees completely blocked out the sky, and there were many frightening sounds coming from each and every direction. Whenever Harry looked at a bush nearby, he could swear that he saw it moving. Maybe it was just paranoia, but considering what Harry had been through before, no one could really blame him.

Harry and Hagrid explored the forest for over three hours without so much as a sign of a billywig. Hagrid was about to give up looking, when he heard a buzzing in the bushes. "Did yeh hear that Harry?" Hagrid whispered. "I think we've found one." Hagrid got up and started to run in the direction the sound was coming from.

Harry ran after him trying his best to keep up. That was until he tripped over a branch, and fell flat on his face. Harry got up, wiped his face of any dirt on it and began looking around the forest for any sign of Hagrid. When he didn't see anything, Harry decided to keep going straight in the direction that he was running towards, before he tripped. 

Harry walked for about ten minutes, and couldn't even find a trace of Hagrid. Harry was starting to become a little frightened, standing in the middle of the forest all alone. He took out his wand and was about to shoot red sparks in the air, hoping that Hagrid would see them and come and find Harry.

But before he was able to shoot them out he heard a voice; a voice coming from inside of his head. 'Young one,' the voice said. 'Come to me, follow the light.'

Harry looked around the forest to try to see what was making that noise, but didn't see anything. After searching for a few minutes, Harry gave up and was about to try shooting sparks again, when he heard the same voice in his head. 'Follow the light.' The voice said.

"What light!" Harry yelled out to his surroundings.

Once again Harry began to look around, and this time he did see something. It was a small white light coming from behind a bush. Harry didn't understand why, but for some reason he felt that he should trust that voice and follow the little bit of light that he saw.

Harry immediately broke into a sprint and ran through the bushes following the path that the light made out. The farther he ran the more clearly he could see the light. After a few minutes he finally arrived to the originator of the light. And it was: a Unicorn.

Harry was amazed at the site that he saw. The Unicorn's body was white as snow, its horn was long and pointy, and its entire body glowed a brilliant white light that somehow didn't hurt Harry's eyes at all.

'Welcome young one.' It was the voice again, where was it coming from?

The unicorn walked closer towards Harry. It looked him straight in the eyes. 'I trust that you have figures out that it is I who is communicating with you in your mind.'

Harry's eyes went completely wide when he heard this. 'Can you hear me,' thought Harry.

'Yes,' the unicorn responded in Harry's mind.

'I didn't know that a unicorn could use telepathy?' 

'We can't.'  The unicorn stated.

'Then how are you communicating with me now?'

'Us unicorns have a special gift, that allows us to bond with one other creature on the planet. Just one, no more than that.'

'And you chose to bond with me?'

'Make no mistake.' The unicorn thought angrily. 'I did not do this for your benefit. I did it for the planet.'

'What do you mean?' Harry asked in his mind.

'I need your help, Harry Potter.'

'Why?'

'I think that you already know why.'

'Voldemort!' Harry thought angrily.

'A great darkness is about to befall this planet, and you might be the trigger. Or you may be the only one who can stop this evil. I really don't know. That is why I need you.'

Harry's eyes widened as he head this. 'What kind of evil? Is it Voldemort?' He asked.

'I think so.' The unicorn responded. 'I wouldn't put anything past humans.'

Harry began to frown a bit. 'What do you mean?'

'I mean exactly what I just thought. Humans are a plague on this planet. You all believe that you are superior beings, when in reality you are all nothing but hairless apes. You care for nothing, or no one but yourselves.'

'That's not true!' Harry exclaimed. 'There are many humans who care about other creatures and the environment.'

'Really? Do you really think that's true? You humans capture us unicorns, draw out our blood, pluck out our hairs, and cut off our precious horns. You take other animals and slaughter them, and use their insides for you twisted amusement. You fight with each other, and in the meantime destroy precious life giving rainforests. To you the rainforests are nothing but a bunch of trees, but to us, they're home. How can you justify any of these actions?'

Harry just stood there stunned for a moment. 'Well,' Harry thought for a moment. 'You unicorns don't seem to mind girls as much as you do the boys, do you?'

'We hate the females, as much as we hate the males; but the females are more gentle with us, while almost all males are barbarians. The fact is, when I first made contact with you, half of me hoped that you would drown so that I wouldn't have to have shared my gift with you.'

Harry's expression immediately went from stunned to furious. 'THAT WAS YOU!'

'Yes. Usually when we share our gift with someone that we love, they experience a warm almost sensational feeling; but when we share it with someone we despise, unusual side effects take place.'

'I COULD HAVE DIED YESTERDAY, AND YOU GOT ME IN A LOT OF TROUBLE!' Harry was getting more and more furious with every passing second. He was two words away, from blasting that unicorn into oblivion.

'Let's just end it here,' the unicorn said in Harry's mind. 'We do not have time for idle banter. I want you to meet me on October 31st. While everyone else is having dinner, you sneak out and head towards the forest, I will await you at the entrance.'

Harry just looked at him disbelievingly. 'You insulted my species, you called me a barbarian, you almost killed me, and now you want me to do something for you; you have a nice night, I have a detention to finish up.' Harry turned around and started walking away from the unicorn.

'If you don't help the world is going to be destroyed!' the unicorn called out after him.

'Well, at least there will be less humans to make your life miserable.' Harry shot back.

'Are you really going to let petty differences between us cloud your judgment?'

Harry just continued walking not listening to anything the unicorn was telling him.

The unicorn started running after him. 'So many will suffer and it will all be your fault!' the unicorn called out.

At that Harry froze. His wand fell out of his hand as he started breathing hoarsely. His eyes went wide as he started clutching his head. "NO!" He yelled out. "STOP IT… PLEASE!!!" Harry immediately fell to his knees, as his hoarse breathing got worse. "PLEASE…LEAVE ME ALONE…I…DIDN'T MEAN…FOR ANY…OF THIS TO…HAPPEN!!!" Harry started shaking his head back and forth, as the unicorn came closer to him. "STOOOOOOOOP!!!" Harry yelled out at the top of his lungs, and before the unicorn could even ask him what was wrong, Harry fainted. 

A/N: So did you like it, did you hate-either way please let me know.


	12. The Given Task

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N- If you guys keep seeing Kanji (Chinese characters) here like I do, then I recommend that you don't view this in internet explorer, use netscape (even though it sucks). If you want I could go back to .doc form. That will rectify the kanji problem. Just tell me.

Chapter 12- The Given Task

"Harry, wake up!" A distant voice called out.

"Harry wake up! Are yeh alrigh'?" The same voice said, only now it wasn't so distant anymore.

Harry slowly began to open up his eyes. At first everything was completely blurry, but after about half a minute, everything came into view. He realized that he was right outside of the forbidden forest. He looked up and saw a very worried Hagrid standing on one knee, looking down at him. "Hagrid?" He slowly said.

"Harry, are yeh alrigh'?" Hagrid asked with worry in his voice.

"Yeah I think so." Harry answered, as he sat up and looked directly at Hagrid. Hagrid's black beetle eyes immediately gazed inside Harry's emerald green eyes, trying to penetrate inside them. For a moment, neither Hagrid nor Harry said anything; they just stayed in the same position, eyes locked into each other's. After the moment had passed, Hagrid sighed, shook his head and stood up.

"Wha' happened ter yeh, Harry?" Hargrid asked, looking away from Harry.

"I don't know," Harry lied, lowering his head to face the ground. "One minute I was following you, the next minute I just passed out." Harry paused for a minute, not knowing what to say next.

Hagrid once again turned to Harry, only this time he didn't have a penetrating look in his eyes, but a worried and confused look. "Yeh fainted inside the fores'?" He said in a whisper.

Harry nodded and said, "Yeah, and thanks for getting me out of there, before anything bad happened to me."

Hagrid shook his out of confusion and said, "I didn'."

Harry's eyes widened as he looked back up at Hagrid's face. "What do you mean 'you didn't'? If you didn't do it then who did?"

"I don' know," Hargid answered. "Maybe Firenze found yeh, and took yeh out of that darn fores'?"

Harry slowly stood up and looked back at the forbidden forest. 'Who could've done it?' Harry wondered. 'It couldn't have been the unicorn? He hates me, and besides it's physically impossible for a unicorn to carry a human out, unless he or she is riding on its back; and there's no way he could've pulled me on top of him?'

"Harry!" Hagrid yelled, snapping Harry out of his trance. 

Harry immediately turned to Hagrid and said, "What?" out of reaction.

"I said, I'm glad tha' yeh're alrigh'."  

"Thanks," Harry responded. "By the way, did you get the billywigs?"

"Yep, all four of 'em," Hagrid answered with pride in his voice. "After yeh and me got separated, I ran into a flock of 'em. As soon as the billywigs saw me, they scattered into different places; but I already knew how 'em billywigs like ter think." Hagrid chuckled a bit. "And thanks ter tha' knowledge I was able ter catch four of 'em without being stung even once.

"Oh, and I'm sorry that yeh and me got separated like tha', I thought yeh were righ' behind me!" Hagrid said in an apologetic tone.

"It's okay," Harry reassured. "All's well that ends well, right?"

"I guess." Hagrid nodded. "Come on, I'll get yeh some tea in ma house." He added as he turned around and headed back to his cabin. 

As soon as he was at the threshold of his cabin, he turned back to Harry and said, "Well, come on in, I'm sure yeh need some rest, before yeh have ter go ter class. And I also have ter sign tha' parchment that professor McGonagall gave yeh."

Harry nodded headed towards Hagrid's cabin. 

'Wait!' A voice in his head said, just as he arrived at the front door.

Harry looked the area trying to find the originator, but couldn't. He turned back towards the house and called, "Hagrid, I'll be there in a second okay?"

"Kay!" Hagrid yelled back.

Harry immediately jumped off the steps and headed towards the forbidden forest. 'Are you here somewhere?' Harry thought as he arrived at the forest entrance.

'Yes,' the unicorn said in Harry's mind. 'Look to your left.'

 Harry turned to his left and noticed the Unicorn coming out from behind a set of trees. 'Hello again.' He said.

'Was it you who saved me?' Harry asked. 'Did you take me out of the forbidden forest?'

The unicorn shook its head and said 'No. I asked a friend to take you out of the forest last night. Even though I am not especially fond of you, I couldn't let you die, I still need you. Please hear me out.'

Harry just sighed, and continued listening.

'Although, the humans and unicorns don't always agree, we have always managed to live in peace with each other.'

Harry nodded.

'And now something is going to happen that will destroy what little peace we have. 

'Although, you and I both know that this world isn't the best place to live; there is much greed corruption, bigotry, and hate. That there are many wars being fought for what we all would agree to be frivolous reasons. That many in this world are starving to death. That there is much pain and suffering in this world. Even with all that, I still would not want to lose it.

'For in this world there is something that makes it all worth while.'

'What?' Harry asked.

'Hope,' the unicorn answered. 'Hope that one day all these futile differences between us will disappear. Hope that by working together, we can abolish all the hate in this world. Hope that tomorrow will be a different day than today; a better brighter day.'

The unicorn sighed quickly and continued, 'I must admit, that we too are to blame for our hatred of humans. Even though our reasons are justified, it is still not right. We claim to want peace, yet we despise humans, and that makes us hypocrites.' The unicorn turned to Harry and looked him straight in the eyes. 'I apologize for the things that I have said to you. In my own hatred, I forgot that human beings are living creatures too.'

Harry just shook his head and said, 'It's alright, let us just forget about what happened last night.'

'Okay,' the unicorn nodded. 

'Listen,' the unicorn continued. 'I do not want the hope in this world to die. It is really all we have left. Friendship, loyalty, sincerity, trust, justice, and love, have all been slaughtered by hatred, betrayal, cruelty, selfishness, corruption, and heartbreak. The only thing the dark one wasn't able to take from us is hope, and I want to keep it that way. However, to do such a thing, I will require your assistance. Please, help me.'

'What do you want me to do?' Harry asked.

'On the 31st of October, I want you to come to the forest while the rest of your school is in the great hall having dinner. I will meet you by the entrance. From there I will take you to a very special place.'

'What place?' Harry asked, giving the unicorn a quizzical look.

'A place called_ Memoritia_.' The unicorn answered.

'Memoritia.' Harry repeated slowly.

'Yes,' the unicorn nodded. 'It is there that we will see how everything started long ago, and why the world seems to be heading towards a horrible future.'

'How do you know that the future is going to be horrible?' Harry asked

'It is all written in the stars,' the unicorn answered. 'My friend, the one who rescued you, has told me of what is going to happen. Him and I both hope that he is wrong, but the only real way we can tell the true future is by going to memoritia, and that's where you come in.'

'What do you want me to do?'

'You will be the one who goes inside of memoritia, no one else will be able to survive in there except you. Once you are in there you will be able to see into the past, and into the future, and because I am connected to you I will also be able to see it. 

'Once your task is completed you will be free to do as you wish. My friend and I shall take over from there.'

'Okay, but I have one more question. Why do we have to go on Halloween, can't we go tonight? I mean, the sooner we finish this task, the better it will be for the planet right? We'll have more time to prevent this disaster that you're talking about, won't we?'

The unicorn didn't answer; he just silently gazed at Harry for a minute.

'Won't we?' Harry repeated.

'There is an answer to your question, but sadly I cannot give it to you at this time. Once you enter memoritia you will know why we chose that special night for you.'

'Okay.' Harry nodded.

'I best be off,' the unicorn said as he turned around and started heading inside the forest. 'Come to the forest right when the feast begins, do not put it off. We must be at memoritia before midnight, or else the night of the 31st will be over, and the morrow of the 1st of November shall take its place. Goodbye for now.'

'Goodbye.' Harry said as he turned around and headed back towards Hagrid's cabin. 

"Hello Hagrid," Harry said as he walked back into Hagrid's cabin.

"Hey there Harry." Hagrid replied cheerfully. "They're beau'iful creatures aren' they?" He added.

"What?" Harry asked, sitting down by the table and helping himself to some tea.

"Well unicorns or course, I saw yeh standing next ter one jus' now."

"Oh, uh, yeah," Harry stuttered a bit. "They really are."

"I am kinda surprised tha' the unicorn didn' jus' run off, when yeh were near it. They don' usually like ter trust humans yeh know."

"Oh, really?" Harry said pretending to know very little about unicorns.

"Yeah," Hagrid continued. "Tha' is why I don' fancy teaching the students about unicorns too much. Because the boy don' get as much of an experience as the girls, what with unicorns not liking the boys ta be near it and all. But," He chuckled a bit at this moment. "With boys like those Weasley twins, I sure as heck don' blame 'em!" He ended with a laugh.

"Yeah I guess." Harry nodded. 

Just then both Harry and Hagrid heard something that made them both turn their heads.

"What was that?" Harry asked.

Hagrid didn't answer, he just put his index finger up, signaling Harry to be quiet. After a moment of silence, Harry and Hagrid both heard a buzzing coming from outside the house. "OH NO, THE BILLYWIGS!" Hagrid yelled as he ran out of the house.

Harry got out his wand and followed Hagrid as quickly as he could. As soon as he was outside he saw what looked like four flying spinners with stingers, flying in different directions.

"Harry, yeh catch those two, I'll take on the others!" Hagrid yelled, as he started chasing after the closest one.

Harry aimed his wand at one of the billywigs and yelled, "_Impedimenta_." A beam flew out of Harry's wand and hit one of the billywigs causing time to slow down so much for it, that it seemed like it wasn't moving at all. Harry was about to use another spell on the frozen billywig, when he felt a small pinch in his back. He turned around and saw the other billywig. He raised his wand at it and yelled, "_Stupify_." A red light came out of his want and knocked the billywig out cold. 

"Harry, are yeh alrigh'?" Hagrid yelled as he ran towards him, with two cages.

Harry rubbed the spot where the billywig had stung him and said, "Yeah."

"Oh No!" Hagrid cried as he looked up at Harry.

Harry looked down at Hagrid and asked, "What's wrong?" But before Hagrid could answer him, Harry had realized what was wrong. He was looking down at Hagrid from the air. The billywig sting had caused him to levitate. "This is not good." Harry stated. "How do I get down?"

"I think professor Snape has a potion that could stop the levitation. It's quite a coincidence tha' yeh have his class in a few minu'es isn' it. Yeh can ask him then."

Harry just rolled his eyes and sighed, "but what if he refuses to give me the potion?"

"Don' be silly Harry, he'll give it ter yeh, if he don' then it'll wear off in a few hours." Hagrid picked up the billywig that was on the ground, and said. "I take care of the rest. I suggest yeh head off ter class. It'll be a lot harder ter get there in yer condition."

"How do I move?" Harry asked.

"Jus' try and swim there." Hagrid suggested.

"Okay!" Harry yelled, and floated off.

"Don' worry!" Hagrid called after him. "I'll give the parchment ter Professor McGonagall!"

It took Harry almost forty-five minutes to learn how to control the levitation to some extent. At least he learned enough to stir himself in the direction of the front door of the castle. 

As soon as he entered the castle he once again noticed that there were no students in the halls. 'They must all be in their classes,' Harry thought to himself, as he floated off towards the dungeons. 'This is just great, I can't even change into my Hogwarts robes now, because I wasted so much time learning how to control myself. And skip Snape's class I'll be in serious trouble. I'm sure that MsGonagall won't let me off after what happened already.'

It took him awhile, but after about four wrong corridors, and hitting ten singing armors, Harry was finally outside the dungeon where his class was in, where Hermione was in. 'This is it,' he thought to himself as he floated closer to the door. He knocked several times until he heard a very familiar growl come from inside the dungeon. "Inside!" Snape growled.

Harry slowly opened the door and floated inside of the classroom. As soon as he was completely inside, he closed the door and turned towards the whole class-who were all staring at him, mouths open. "Well, well, well," Snape drawled. "According to the reaction that was just made towards the late student, I can only deduce that, the student is Mr. Potter." His back was turned so he didn't see exactly why everyone was staring at Harry. "You do know that you are late don't you?"

"I am coming back from the forbidden forest, I had a detention there!" Harry called out, making some of the students whisper to each other.

"Stop that immediately!" Snape barked to the side of the room where he heard the whispers come from. "Very well then take a seat right here in front of me." Snape said.

"I can't." Harry said.

"And why can't you?" Snape snarled, turning around to face Harry for the first time. As soon as he saw that Harry was flying in midair, with muggle clothes on, his eyebrow went up, and his lips curled into a smile. "Well," He started. "I see that Mr. Potter here has found a new means of transportation within this school." A few Slytherins snickered at this.

"I got stung by a billywig!" Harry gritted through his teeth.

"And I see that Mr. Potter is also showing off the latest fashions from the muggle world," Snape continued. Even more Slytherins began to snicker now.

"I didn't have time to get to my common room, I was too busy trying to control my levitation!"

"Come down Potter." Snape said lazily. "I'll give you the antidote."

Harry slowly hovered towards Snape's, trying desperately not to hit anything. As he was flying down he noticed both Ron, and Hermione sitting on opposites sides somewhere around the middle, 'Snape obviously made them sit there.' Harry thought to himself. He gave both Ron and Hermione a closer look, and noticed that Hermione's face had turned into a bright smile, and that Ron was giving him two thumbs up. 'They don't hate me?' Harry wondered as he approached Snape's desk.

"Here!" Snape growled as he levitated a potion right into Harry's hands. "Drink it fast, you're wasting the classes time!"

Harry quickly downed the potion as fast as he could-he couldn't wait the get to the ground and have the class stop staring at him so much. As soon as he finished the potion, he felt an immense force pull him down towards the ground. As soon as he landed on the ground he turned to Snape and said, "Thank you" quietly.

"Oh you're welcome." Snape sneered. "But you know," Be bent down and looked at him even closer. "You don't really look so good." The Slytherins were immediately thrown to the edge of their seats; all knowing that something entertaining was about to follow.

"Here," Snape said politely, as he grabbed Harry's arm, and led him around the desk. He pushed Harry into his chair, picked up his legs and put them on the table. "There, doesn't that feel better?" Snape asked.

Harry didn't answer, for he knew that whatever came next definitely wouldn't be something good. 

Snape took out his wand and pointed it at Harry; he muttered a few words, and petrified Harry. 

Harry tried his best to move, but to no avail.

"There, now that's better. You've obviously been working out, and staying up so late, I figure that you might need a little rest." Snape then walked around the desk and faced his entire class. "But, of course now that Mr. Potter is resting I can't continue teaching the rest of you slackers. I would really hate it if he got left behind and couldn't catch up," He said with a hint of a smile forming on his mouth. "So today I'll let all of you have a nice rest. Of course to rest, you first have to be tired. 

"ALL GRYFFINDORS STAND UP NOW!" He yelled. Immediately every single member of the Gryffindor house stood by his or her desk. "FRONT LEAN AND REST POSTION, NOW!" Hermione and a few of the boys dropped down to the ground and got in pushup postion, while the others just stood there looking confused. "Well, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" Snape growled. The rest of the Gryffindor house immediately copied the others.

"Now let's see, twenty minutes late, so twenty pushups should do it," Snape said quietly. "We are all going to get a nice workout today." He stopped looked around and continued. "But, we must not forget who the one responsible for our exhilaration today is, so after every single pushup, you will all say 'Thank You Mr. Potter'," At this moment Harry tried as hard as he could to free himself but still, all of his efforts were fruitless.  "Understand?" Snape finished.

No one in the room, answered. "Okay," Snape sneered. "Let's try this again. Thirty pushups, and you will all say…"

"But that's not fair, the Slytherins aren't doing anything!" Hermione interrupted Snape before he could finish.

Snape turned to her and said, "Fifty pushups, and you will all now say, 'Thank you Mr. Potter, and Miss Granger', understand?"

All the Gryffindors immediately started groaning when they heard Snape say this.

Snape just smiled and said, "Sixty."

"Will you all just shut up!" Ron yelled.

"One hundred pushups, and you will all say 'Thank you Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Mr. Weasley!'" Snape growled.

All the Gryffindors just started to groan even more, while all the Slytherins started snickering more.

Snape turned to Harry and said, "Are you comfy there, Mr. Potter?"

Harry didn't say anything (he couldn't), all he did was try to get free of the spell.

"Wonderful!" Snape turned to the rest of the class and shouted, "ONE!"

All the Gryffindors went down and came back up. As soon as they were up they all chanted, "Thank you Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Mr. Weasley!"

"TWO!"

Once again, down and then back up. "Thank you Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Mr. Weasley!"

"THREE!"

"Thank you Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Mr. Weasley!"

The Slytherins couldn't hold it in anymore, they all burst with laughter. Crabbe and Goyle fell off their chairs, Pansy Parkinson was hitting her desk with her fists, and Millecent Bulstrode was holding onto Zabini Blaise for support-she almost fell out of her chair too.

The only Slytherin who wasn't laughing was Draco Malfoy. He completely ignored everything that had happened after Harry came into the room. The only thing he was doing was eyeing Harry. He could easily tell that Harry wasn't slacking off this summer, and he was more determined to beat Harry now more than ever. Not just at the wizard's duel, at quidditch, at school, at anything he could think of. He didn't understand why he wanted to beat Harry so much, but he knew he had to.

"FIFTEEN!"

"Thank you Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Mr. Weasley!"

"SIXTEEN!"

By now Neville was so weak and tired that he fell off of his hands and onto his stomach.

"Longbottom, get up, or you'll do one-fifty!"

The Slytherins once again burst in laughter as soon as they saw that Neville was on the brink of tears, as he barely got up onto his hands.

"SEVENTEEN!"

"Thank you Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Mr. Weasley!"

"EIGHTEEN!"

"Thank you Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Mr. Weasley!"

Just then the door to the dungeon flew open. All the students looked back and saw professor McGonagall standing at the entrance, with a very confused and suspicious look on her face.

"Just what is going here?!" She barked.

All the Gryffindors [except for Neville, who fell down on the floor], immediately got up and ran over to professor McGonagall, and started telling her the whole story.

After they were finished telling her the story, professor McGonagall looked like she was about to explode. She slowly walked up to Snape, and quietly said, "Release Mr. Potter from the spell."

Snape just stood there and glared at her. 

"NOW!" She thundered. 

Snape reluctantly turned to Harry, pointed his wand at him, and within a second Harry was free from the spell. On normal circumstances, Harry would've been furious, but when he saw that Snape's attempt to get the Gryffindors to hate him had backfired, he felt pretty good.

Professor McGonagall looked at Harry and said, "Go to Professor Dumbledore's office, the password is 'mars bar', he's waiting for you there." Professor McGonagall's tone wasn't very high, but it gave everyone the impression that if someone disagreed with her, they'd be in for a world of hurt.

Harry not wanting to find out, immediately dashed out of the classroom, and ran down the hall towards the giant gargoyle statue.   

  "Mars bar." Harry said as he arrived. The statue immediately sprang to life. It got up and moved away from the wall, as it did the wall started opening. Once it was completely open, Harry saw a long spiral staircase behind it. He quickly ran up the staircase, until he entered a Dumbledore's office. The room was huge, and beautifully carpeted. On the walls, pictures of previous headmasters hung. And in the center of the room stood a large desk with Dumbledore himself sitting behind it.

"Hello Harry," Dumbledore said cheerfully, as his blue eyes twinkled a bit. "Where is professor McGonagall, I thought she would be with you."

"She got held up with Snape…"

"_Professor_ Snape, Harry."

"Uh, right, with professor Snape." Harry answered.

"Well, then have a seat," Dumbledore said pointing towards the chair in front of his desk.

Harry walked over to the seat, and before he even sat down, he asked, "Is this about the book of dark arts?"

Dumbledore smiled as his eyes twinkled once again. He fixed his half moon spectacles, and said, "Eager, aren't we?" Dumbledore reached under his desk and pulled out the book that Harry had found in the train station. He set down on the table and said, "I'm sorry Harry, but I could not find any way to reveal what you said. I also scanned this book for dark magic, and couldn't sense any."

Harry was thrown into complete shock. Not even Dumbledore could find out how to make the book work. "You know what this means, don't you?" Harry said quietly. "If not even you can find out how to work this thing than it must belong to Voldemort."

Dumbledore nodded. "I want you to take back the book, you were able to make it work once, and maybe you can do it again. Don't forget, you are connected with Voldemort." He said pointing at Harry's scar. "Please do not tell anyone about this book Harry, not even your friends. Let's keep this between the three of us."

"Okay," Harry nodded.

"Harry," Dumbledore continued, giving Harry his penetrating stare. "Is there any more information that you can give me about Voldemort, anything at all."

Harry thought for a moment, 'What can I tell him that he probably doesn't already know?' Just then, it hit him. "A few weeks ago, I had a dream about Voldemort killing someone. I awoke with a pain in my scar, but this time it was a lot worse than normal." 

Dumbledore nodded, telling Harry to continue.

"My scar hurt as much as when he touched me, or used the cruciatus curse on me. And not only that, it didn't stop as soon as I woke up; it continued to hurt even more. I'd say I was rolling around on the floor and yelling, for at least a minute."

Dumbledore sighed and said, "He's obviously getting more powerful."

"That's what I thought." Harry said.

"We were able to stop his expansion of power, but we can't stop his power growth." Dumbledore shook his head.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"I sent Professor Hagrid, and Madame Maxime to extend a welcome to the giants hiding in the mountains. I had them explain to the giants about how Voldemort just wanted to use them, and kill them afterwards. I think that they understood, for they did not join up with him. And because of this I seriously doubt that the dementors will join him. They would not do anything to risk losing their place in this world."

 Harry nodded and stayed quiet.

"Is there anything else you could think of?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry thought about telling him about the unicorn, and of memoritia, but thought better of it. 'Maybe I'll tell him after I returned.'

                "No sir," Harry said.

                Dumbledore took a deep breath, exhaled, and contorted his face into a smile. "So," he started in the same cheerful voice, as when Harry came in. "I'm sure that you will want to know the start of the term announcements that I made in the great hall."

                Harry nodded.

                "First of all, the school will be having another dance this year."

                Harry frowned at this. The last time the school had a dance Harry did not have much fun.

                "Also, the school will be having a school wide wizard's duel, with an O.W.L. given to the top four contestants."

                This announcement would have normally excited Harry, but didn't seem to have any effect on him this time.

                "We have a new defense against the dark arts teacher, Miss Delaceur."

                "She told me she might apply to teach here." Harry said more to himself than to Dumbledore.

                "Oh, yes, and her English has greatly improved." Dumbledore beamed.

                "And finally, the seventh floor in the western tower is undergoing renovation, so we closed off the tower from all students this year."

                "Okay, I think I got it all." Harry said. 

                "Good," Dumbledore said. "Now would you like something to eat? It is lunchtime."

                Harry just shook his head.

                "Okay then." Head back to your common room, get dressed, and go see Mr. Filch for your next detention, and afterwards, you will go see Miss Granger for your third one."

                Harry's eyes widened at this, "Two detentions in one day?" He said disbelievingly.

                Dumbledore just shrugged and said, "Minerva insisted."

                Harry just sighed and nodded. "Okay." He got up and headed out of Dumbledore's office.

                "Harry," Dumbledore called, just as Harry reached the doorway. Harry turned around and faced Dumbledore. "If you have anymore information, even if your scar itches a little funny, I would like you to come and tell me. We need all the information we can get right now."

                Harry nodded.

                "And Harry." Dumbledore called one more time.

                "Yes?"

                "Do try and get better." Dumbledore said with a smile.

                Harry just nodded and walked out the door.


	13. Detention

Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter-13 

                                                                Detention

                Harry slowly walked backed towards Gryffindor tower, all the while thinking about the new information that Dumbledore had given him just a few moments back. About how he believed that Voldemort was becoming more powerful, about how Dumbledore temporarily stopped Voldemort from expanding his army, and about how not even Dumbledore could learn how to activate the mysterious book of dark arts that he found on platform nine and three quarters. 

                Harry looked down at the book more carefully than before. 'How does it work?' he wondered. 'How did I activate it before?' 

                He stopped for a minute, opened the book and held it up right in front of his face. The pages were of course still blank. He turned a few pages, thinking that maybe you have to be on the right page for the book to reveal its dark spells. He tried to turn it to the same page which he did when he first opened it. But the book still remained blank. 

                Harry shook the book a few times, closed and opened it to around the same page as he did on platform nine and three quarters, but still nothing happened. "I should've expected this," He said to himself. "If Dumbledore couldn't find out how to work the book, then there's little chance that I'll be able to." Harry had almost given up on the idea of trying to activate the book's power, when a new thought rushed into his head.

                'What if I wasn't the one who activated the book?' He thought. He opened the book one more time and looked closely at it. 'It could've been that person who ran into me.' He stopped for a moment, closed the book and looked back down at it. 'But then why did the spells just disappear? It can't just be, that when you close the book, the spells disappear because I found the book closed on the ground.' Harry started to walk back to Gryffindor tower, while at the same time continued to try to piece the mystery of the book together. 'It doesn't have anything to do with time limit; otherwise it would have disappeared while I was flying to school. And I definitely remember looking at it once or twice while I was waiting for the feast to finish. This doesn't make sense.'

                He finally arrived at Gryffindor tower and saw that the fat lady in the portrait was once again talking with her friend violet. "Um, excuse me," he said.

                The fat lady turned to him, and with a scowl on her face said, "Can't you see that I'm trying to have a conversation with Vi here?"

                "Sorry," Harry said almost automatically.

                "Why aren't you at lunch with all the other Gryffindors?"

                "I wasn't hungry."

                "Very well, Password?"

                And right there and then it hit Harry, he was never told the password needed to get into Gryffindor tower. Professor McGonagall was obviously so angry with Snape that she forgot to tell Harry the password. And by the time Harry left Dumbledore's office, he was so preoccupied with thoughts of Voldemort that he forgot to tell Dumbledore that he didn't know his password.

                "Er…" Harry started, not knowing exactly what to say. "Er, caput draconis?" Harry said doubtfully.

                "Very funny," The fat Lady responded giving Harry a stern look. "Do you know the password or not?"

                Harry looked at her for a moment not knowing what to say, when an idea came into his head. He reaches into his pocket and took out the prefects badge that professor McGonagall gave him the previous day and flashed it in front of the fat lady. "I'm a Gryffindor prefect, so it's okay if you just let me in."

                "Young man, I don't care if you're the minister of magic, if you don't have the password you can't get in! Now do you have it or not?" She finished with a very stern and impatient voice.

                "Well, not really, but…"

                But before Harry could continue and try to explain his situation, the fat lady just turned away from him and continued talking to her friend.

                Knowing that he probably wasn't going to get anywhere if he remained there and tried to convince the fat lady to open the passage to the Gryffindor tower, Harry just turned and set off towards Filch's office. He didn't really want to be late arriving there. Filch wasn't the type of person who would pardon a person if he was a little tardy. He was a squib-a person born in a magical family, but who possessed no magical abilities of their own; and therefore despised all students-who were able to use magic. Harry had already been in trouble with him a few number of times, and he knew that he definitely wasn't on Filch's good list.

                He arrived at Filch's office, knocked gently, and waited for an answer. When he heard a loud growl telling him to come inside, he slowly entered. Filch's office looked exactly like it did the first time Harry had been inside it during his second year. It had an old, moldy dungeon-like appearance to it. The only thing that looked remotely new in the office were the shackles by Filch's desk. He obviously polished them often, hoping that one day Dumbledore will once again allow him to use them on students who got detention.

                As soon as Harry closed the door and turned to face a smiling Filch, he knew that he would not enjoy the next few hours.

                And, as it turned out he was right. For the next six hours Filch had Harry clean all the toilets at Hogwarts (girls and boys). And he seemed to get really irritated when Harry asked him why moaning Myrtle's bathroom had been sealed off. "None of your business!" He growled. "You're not here to ask questions, you're here to clean."

                After what was possibly the most disgusting detention Harry's ever served was over a new trouble arose. 

                Filch told Harry that his next detention was in a few minutes and that it would be with Hermione Granger. 

                "What do you mean?" Harry asked, with worry in his voice. It was true that he wanted to see Hermione again, but he just wasn't ready at the moment, still thinking that she hasn't forgiven him.

                "She's doing a little review session for all those who have forgotten some spells and hexes, and you're going to be the practice dummy," Filch said with gleam in his voice.

                Harry was about to protest, but was interrupted when Filch stuck a parchment right in Harry's face. "She'll have to sign this and return it to professor McGonagall. And I'm warning you, if you two try anything funny, this parchment will flash red and then you'll both be in even more trouble."

                Harry slowly nodded his head, took the parchment, the book of dark arts that he left on Filch's desk while he was out cleaning all the toilets in Hogwarts and left Filch's office. He slowly walked down towards the dungeon that Filch told him Hermione would be in, all the while thinking about what would happen in a few minutes. He remembered Dumbledore telling him that his second detention would be with Hermione, but he was so preoccupied with the news that Dumbledore had told him, and the fact that he was serving two detentions in one day, that he didn't really pay too much attention. Each step he took towards the dungeons was harder than the previous step. Then finally after about ten minutes Harry arrived at the door of the dungeon where Hermione was.

                He stopped, took a deep breath and was bout to open the door, when he heard voices coming from it. Harry leaned his ear by the door, and recognized the other voice to be Neville's.

                "But why did Dumbledore start this wizard duel thing now anyways?" Harry heard Neville ask.

                "I don't know." Responded a voice that sounded like Hermione's. As soon as Harry heard her voice, he froze. His insides began to feel colder than before. He shook it off and proceeded to open the door.

                'The answer is obvious.' Harry thought as his hand gripped the door handle. 'He's preparing us for the future.'

                Harry slowly turned the handle and started opening the door. As soon as it was a crack open Harry was able to see Hermione standing behind it. She obviously didn't see him; otherwise she'd have called him inside. As soon as he saw her, his entire insides froze. All the pain that he felt during the summer, and the pain of remembering her tearstained face, when he left her house came back to him. It was getting harder for him to breathe properly. He stumbled backwards a bit, as a sweat drop dripped from his brow. He wanted to see her again, to hear her voice again; he wanted to go inside, but the pain inside of him was becoming too strong.

                __

_                "It's all your fault."_ A voice started to whisper inside his head. _"It's all your fault."_ Harry feeling more pain than before immediately clutched his head with both hands, as he continued stumbling backwards. _"It's all your fault."_ The voice continued chanting while, while Harry could do nothing but breathe hoarsely. He felt as though he was going to pass out again, like he did the previous night in the forbidden forest. _"It's all your fault."_ Harry was about to scream when…

                "Harry," A gentle voice called out. And suddenly everything stopped. The frozen feeling was gone, the voice had disappeared, and the pain he was feeling inside his head was also disappearing. 

                "Harry," The voice called again. Harry looked up and saw Hermione standing in the doorway looking right at him.  

                "Her-Hermione," Harry said slowly. He couldn't understand what just happened. One minute he was on the brink of insanity [again], the next minute he felt normal.

                Hermione stepped out of the dungeon and closed the door. She faced Harry, careful to avoid his eyes. "I'm glad you came back," she said in a low voice. "Sirius owled me, and told me that you might not come back."

                "I almost didn't," Harry said in a voice so low, that it sounded more like a whisper. "But I couldn't break my promise to Sirius. No matter what."

                Both Harry and Hermione stood silent for a minute, neither knowing what to say to the other. It was Harry who broke the silence when he said, "So what exactly are you doing here?"

                "I'm doing a little remedial review kind of thing. So far, Neville is the only one here, but others said that they would stop by, what with the wizards duel and all, by the way, have you heard about it yet?"

                Harry nodded. "Dumbledore told me all about it in his office."

                "What were you doing in his office?" Hermione asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

                "He was asking me if I had any information about Voldemort." Harry answered, once again in a very low voice.

                Hermione looked down, wishing that she really didn't ask that question, for now they were once again, both silent.

                This time it was Hermione who broke the silence when she said, "So what exactly are you doing here?"

                "I'm here to help you with your lesson." Harry answered giving Hermione the parchment.

                Hermione read it and said, "So they didn't trust me."

                "What do you mean?" asked Harry.

                "This is a _specto-parchment_. It flashes red if it believes you're doing something dishonest. It works just like a muggle lie detector."

                "Lie detector?" Harry looked at her quizzically.

                "Yes," Hermione said facing him again. "Many people believe that in order to fool the lie detector all you have to do is stay very calm, and not worry, when the truth is that, that only make it easier for the machine to do its job." She looked back down at the parchment and continued. "There is a certain nervous reaction that happens in your brain whenever you lie; your nerves sort of twitch. The lie detector picks up on this little abnormality and responds with the needle going back and forth on the paper. This parchment works in the same way." She looked back up at Harry. "The only people who can fool a lie detector are people can successfully convince their brains that the lie is actually the truth. And people like that are usually people who have no conscience, the biggest scum of the earth. I bet you-know-who would be able to lie through the whole thing easily."

                Once again, both of them became silent. But this time it wasn't Harry or Hermione who broke it, it was Seamus Fannigan who said, "Hey, is this the review?"

                Hermione answered yes, and ushered both Seamus and Harry into the Dungeon. 

                A few more people showed up (mostly from Hufflepuff), and the lesson went very smoothly aside from the obvious difficulty Harry and Hermione had being around each other. Both Harry and Hermione were able to help the troubled students with many spells that they had forgotten over the years, and they made the lesson more bearable, because they weren't threatening the students with bad grades. The only person who had trouble was Neville. When Hermione told him to transfigure a grape into an cockroach, Neville turned it into a cockroach cluster, when Harry told Neville to use a simple switching spell on a chair and a cactus, he ended up switching the chair's legs with his own. But even after that, Neville didn't give up. He was planning on entering the tournament and get back the Longbottom family's good name. Although both Harry and Hermione thought that there was a greater chance of him being kidnapped by aliens, they both gave him their support.

                After the session was over, everyone except Harry and Hermione had left. The two had to stay and clean up the dungeon (mostly the mess that Neville made). For a moment Harry and Hermione both understood why Snape was so vindictive of Neville. For the mess that Neville left after his antidote blew up seemed like it would take hours to clean.

                During the entire cleanup session, neither Harry nor Hermione said a word to each other. In fact, they didn't even look at each other. 

                It was only after they finished cleaning that they congratulated each other on a job well done. Obviously they were each pleased with the way the lesson went.

                 "Would you liked some tea, before we leave Harry?" Hermione offered.

                Harry just nodded and said,  "Sounds great."

                While Hermione was boiling the water with her magic blue fire, Harry was debating on whether he should bring up the subject of the night he left her house. He hated himself more than ever now, after seeing Hermione act to nice, like nothing ever happened. The truth was, that although he was afraid of Hermione hating him, but inside that was what he really wanted. That way, at least he wouldn't be able to hurt her anymore. He looked up and saw her walking towards him with two cups of hot tea in her hands. 

                "Here you go," she said as she handed Harry a cup.

                "Thanks," he responded as he took it from her.

                She sat down right near him, took a sip of her tea and turned back to him and said, "professor McGonagall said that you decided to take arithmancy this year."

                Harry just nodded as he took a sip of his tea; it tasted sweet and bitter at the same time. But Harry pretended not to notice.

                "She also said," Hermione continued. "That I should tutor you to help you catch up on the stuff you missed since you're going to be in the intermediate class and not in the beginners."

                Harry just nodded again.

                "I was thinking that it would be impossible to catch you up on an entire years missed work, so I'd just help you with the fundamentals, and the parts that have something to do with your current lessons."

                Harry nodded again and said, "Sounds good."

                Hermione took another sip of her tea and said, "So are you going to enter the wizards duel?"

                Harry thought for a moment and said, "probably not."

                "Why not?" asked Hermione. "You'd stand a good chance of winning, and the top four winners get an O.W.L. accredited to their transcript."

                "So I take it that you'll be entering," Harry said, facing her.

                "Of course," Hermione answered enthusiastically. "But it's not just that. It's also a great chance to see how much I improved over the last five years here. You know, compared to everyone else."

                "But you got the top grades in our year. Doesn't that tell you how you did?"

                "Yeah, on tests, but not out in the field. I really need to practice these things while I'm under pressure. Don't you remember what happened when I faced that boggart?"

                "I don't think that had anything to do with your capabilities, you were just very frustrated that year."

                "That's no excuse. You were able to face the boggart, and yours was much more difficult than mine," She stopped, took another sip of tea and continued, "in fact, compared to facing a dementor, my fear almost seemed laughable."

                "I didn't think so," Harry said. 

                Harry and Hermione both became silent once again.

                "You know Harry, everyone was really worried about you," Hermione said breaking the silence, completely changing the subject, and causing Harry's insides to turn. "I mean after what happened last year and all."

                Harry just put his tea on the ground and said, "really?"

                "What happened to you, Harry?" Hermione cried. "You've completely changed after last year."

                Harry just remained silent.

                "Whenever I look into your eyes all I see is pain, death. Why, what's going on?" 

                Harry looked at her and saw that there were tears forming in her eyes. It seemed obvious that she has kept this inside for a while, that she had wanted to say that since the moment she saw him. He looked down at the floor, sighed and said, "I wish I knew, that way I could end it all."

                "You know something! Tell me, maybe I can help you!"

                "I can't." Harry said in a low voice.

                "Why not?" Hermione cried, tears already starting to fall.

                "You wouldn't understand."

                "What wouldn't I understand?"

                Harry just sighed and said, "You're just going to have to trust me."

                "Fine!" Hermione snapped as she stood up and looked down at Harry. 

"So, what do you want to do tomorrow, study together, go to the Three Broomsticks and have a butterbeer, maybe practice a few new spells together?!" She shouted, her voice full of sarcasm.

Harry just sat there and didn't answer.

"Harry!" she continued. "Either I'm your friend or not, there is no 'in between'! And friends help each other! But I can't help you, if you keep shooting me down every time I try to get a little closer to you! Furthermore, I am getting very tired of worrying about you all the time! You're going to have to choose now, am I your friend or not?"

                Harry just continued sitting there in silence.

                After a few moment of silence, Hermione broke it by shouting, "Fine!" She walked over to the table, slammed her empty tea cup on it, took the specto-parchment that Harry brought her, signed it and dropped it right in front of Harry. "Your sentence is over! Enjoy your life!" With that, she turned on her heel and angrily stopped towards the door.

                "Dumbledore was wrong," Harry said to her, a second before she was about to open the door.

                "What is that supposed to mean?" She said angrily as she turned to face Harry once again.

                Harry stood up and started to walk closer towards her. "Last year, during the second task, Dumbledore was wrong."

                "What are you talking about Harry? We're not discussing the second task from that stupid tournament now, we're discussing you and me?"

                "When he assigned Ron to be my victim," Harry continued as if he hadn't even heard her. "It's true that I would greatly miss Ron if he disappeared, but he's not the person whom I would've missed most."

                "What do you mean?" Hermione asked, her voice getting softer.

                "Only one person was always there for me through these past few years," He continued while coming closer towards her. "Only one person always had my best interest in mind, and did what was best for me, even when it meant me getting angry with her. Only one person stood by me when no one else would," He stopped moving when he was a meter away from her. "You. You were always there for me, no matter what the situation or the consequences. Even when you were completely petrified you were there for me."

                Hermione went a little red and said, "I'm sure you would've done the same for me."

                "You were and still are the person that I would miss most, Hermione. Up until a few seconds ago, I wanted you to hate me. I thought that that way, I wouldn't be able to hurt you anymore. But when it was actually a possibility, I realized that that wasn't what I wanted after all. I'm really lucky to have a friend like you. And if you still want to listen, I'm willing to tell you everything you want to know."

                Hermione nodded, wiped that last remaining tears from her eyes, and followed Harry towards the seats.

                "First of all," Harry started as soon as the sat down. "Mr. Crouch had a good reason for sacking Winky." Harry immediately broke into the entire story of what happened to him during fourth year. Of how he really lost his wand during the quidditch world cup, of how Moody was Barty Crouch's son in disguise, of he and Cedric were transported away from Hogwarts, of how Cedric was murdered right in front of Harry's eyes, of Voldemort's resurrection, of how he was forced to duel with Voldemort, and of what happened when their wands met. Many times during the story Harry saw that Hermione was starting to cry but nevertheless he continued.

                "And now, there's a voice in my head. It randomly appears and blames me for what happened. And for what's going to happen. I don't understand it, but this voice has some kind of power over me. It seems to be able to suck out all of my happiness, and all of my hope. I don't know how I've even managed to stay sane this long."

                Harry looked back at Hermione, and he saw that she was obviously not ready to hear everything that he had just told her. "I'm sorry." He said and just looked away.

                Before he could say anything else, he felt Hermione throw her arms around him. And he heard her say, "Don't worry, we'll get through all of this together. I promise."

                Harry, then put his arms around her and said, "Thanks." 

A/N- How was that for a reunion. This chapter was supposed to be bigger, but once again it ran long so I had to cut it down, sorry. Please r/r.


	14. The Longest Night

Disclaimer-I do not own Harry Potter.

A/n-I'd like to thank all those who reviewed, we finally reached the big Five-O. Thank you all very much, and I'm glad you're enjoying this story, and don't worry very soon things are going to get good.

      Chapter 14

                                                                The Longest Night

                That night, even though he was very tired, Harry had a hard time falling asleep. Aside from Neville's snoring, it was Harry's thoughts that kept him awake most of that night. He was thinking about what Dumbledore had told him, about the book that he found on platform nine and three quarters, about what the unicorn had told him, and of course about Hermione.

                In fact, it was the thought of Hermione that encircled his mind most of the night. After thinking about it for many hours, he still didn't understand why he told her everything he did. This was definitely not something that Harry had planned. It was more of a spur of the moment type of thing. 

But why? Why did he do it? That was what was on his mind the entire time he was thinking about her. 'Was it because I was afraid to lose her? Or was it because I thought she had a right to know? She spent so much time worrying about me, maybe by telling her, it would at least give her mind a little peace? But still, it was wrong. I should never have involved her. I should never have burdened her with all of this. Now she'll probably be more worried than ever, and that's the last thing she needs. This was my burden to bear and now I placed it on her.' Those were the type of thoughts that went through his mind for most of the night. 'But still, this is what she wanted,' was the last thought he had before he was finally able to fall asleep.

Harry was once again finding himself walking in darkness; a darkness that never seemed to end. The only difference between this time and the last was, that he was self-aware, and self-conscious. He wasn't a blanked faced zombie walking in a single direction like last time. He was cautious of every single step he took, he listened intently for any sound at all, and he was waiving his hands in front of him in order to try to feel his surroundings. It was like he was actually awake, only in his mind he knew that it was a dream, because he remembered that he had one just like it before. 

"HELLO!" He called out. "IS ANYONE HERE?" When he couldn't hear any answer at all, he continued walking; hoping that he would find whatever it was he was looking for. He walked for what seemed like hours, until he finally gave up and sat down on the floor to rest. "This is ridiculous," he said to himself. "If this is all a dream then I should just wait it out." Harry looked around and seeing that nothing was happening around him, he just lied down on his back, and put his hands under his head for comfort. "Still, it seems so real. I can think clearly, and remember everything that happened in the real world. What does this mean?" Harry sat back up. "This is definitely something that Dumbledore will want to know. I'll tell him as soon as I wake up. It might even have something to do with Voldemort. But if it does, will I remember everything that happened here." Harry looked around one more time. "Not that anything weird did happen, except for the fact that I actually know this is a dream and I'm surrounded by darkness, and if I keep walking, I'll just end up in more darkness."

Harry continued sitting there, hoping that sooner or later the dream will end and that he will be back at Hogwarts in his bed, ready to go classes. But after hours of waiting, nothing happened. "This is ridiculous!" Harry shouted, getting extremely frustrated. "I've been here for hours, why haven't I woken up yet? I probably already missed all of the morning classes. I'm going to be in even more trouble than I am in now. Last time I had a good excuse and I still got five detentions and a Saturday detention. What am I going to tell McGonagall now, that I overslept!" Harry started to pinch himself hoping that that would wake him up, but the only thing that it did was hurt him, and make his skin red. "Why hasn't anyone awakened me yet? I'm sure they must have realized that I'm in the dormitory, in my bed sleeping, while classes are in session."

                "Nobody will wake you up, for nobody can wake you up," a cold voice whispered out of nowhere. 

                Harry looked around cautiously and yelled, "Who's out there? Is anyone there?"

                "A dream is like a doorway to another dimension, another world, another time, another place. This place seems to be very, very cold and frightening. In fact I'm surprised that you're not scared right now." The voice continued speaking, getting a little louder.

                "Why should I be afraid of a dream?" Harry said defiantly, while trying to find the originator of the voice.

                "Because this is no ordinary dream, it is a dream from which you can't awake, from which you can't escape. This is a spirit world, and if your spirit dies here, then it will become a lost soul and will be sent off to _Spiral Tower_ for eternity."

                Harry's eyes immediately went wide. He was obviously becoming more afraid of his situation now.

                "Ah now I see that I have gotten your attention."

                "Who are you?" Harry shouted out. "What do you want from me?"

                "All I want is to play a little game with you, if you win I let your spirit return to the real world, but if you lose you will become a lost soul trapped in spiral tower, are we agreed?"

                Harry was definitely afraid now. "No way." He yelled out trying to mask his inner fear.

                "My poor boy, you're acting as if that were a request. Let me put it another way. You are going to participate in my little game and if you lose, you'll lose your soul, and if you don't participate in my game you'll lose your soul anyway!"

                Harry knew that he was stuck, he had to buy some more time, hope that he would somehow wake up. That someone in the dormitory would awaken him, or take him to Dumbledore, who would definitely know of a way to wake him up.  "Er… What do you mean by lost soul, do you mean a ghost, and what exactly is Spiral Tower?" He said.

                "So, you're hoping to buy yourself some time by keeping me distracted. Well I can assure you that no one will wake you up. Time passes by differently in this world than it does in yours. Although you have been here for many hours, only a few minutes have passed in the real world."

                "What," Harry coughed out.

                "That's right, all of your friends are still asleep, they do not even know that you are in the room with them. Of course, the truth is, that even if they knew what was happening, they wouldn't be able to do anything about it. There is no way to awaken you with out causing you to lose your soul."

                Harry's eyes went wide as he took a step back into the darkness. His mouth opened once again to say "Who are you?", but nothing came out. He tried again, but still nothing came out. It was as if his voice had been taken away from him.

                "Now, now, it's very rude to interrupt me when I'm about to answer your previous questions. And besides, who I am is not your concern; your concern is keeping your soul where it is. 

                "Anyways, I was about to enlighten you, by answering your ridiculous questions. For your first one, the answer is no, a lost soul is not like a ghost. A ghost is one that is simply dead, but whose soul has decided not to cross over-the keyword there being decided. For you see, a ghost is still self-aware. He knows exactly what is going on with him, and around him. He makes decisions for himself, just like living being. He can choose beneficial decisions, or costly ones. He can choose, between good and evil.

                "A lost soul on the other hand is not so lucky. For they will become enslaved within their own minds, and forced to wander for eternity, not knowing who they, are what they were, or even if they exist. It's like, how would you say, 'the lights are on, but nobodies home'," the voice gave a sinister chuckle. "It is truly the worst thing that can happen to any being. Being forced to suffer within their own heads for eternity.

                "And as for your second question, Spiral Tower is a place that houses millions of lost souls. That fool, thought that it would be better if the souls did not interfere with the real world."

                "Who?" Harry asked. He had obviously gotten his voice back, and went back to buying himself some more time by trying to keep the voice talking.

                "Enough questions!" The voice growled. "You have stalled long enough. We shall begin right now!"

                Harry got ready for whatever the voice was going to throw at him.

                "I want you to perform two tasks fro me.

                "Are we ready, because this will definitely be a blast from the past."

                Harry frowned furiously, and nodded.

                "The first task is a riddle. Here we go

                "In ancient times, in the land of myth,

                A very feared creature did once exist,

                Its master always called it his pet,

                But others would look at it with dread,

                For this creature was like no other,

                It didn't even fear fire,

                And as all beings could obviously see,

                To stop it you would need help, at least in numbers three,

                The master used this creature for one reason,

                To guard the most precious things to anyone,

                The most precious things to any woman or man,

                For once they are gone you will never see them again.

                "There, simple is it not. I have taken the liberty of engraving it in your head. That way I won't have to bother to repeat it. You have all the time you need, however don't take too long, you still have classes. And don't even try and fish for an answer, because I am going to stop speaking after this, and I will only respond once you have given your answer. If your answer is wrong then your soul will be sent to Spiral Tower with the others, if you do not wish to answer then you will remain here for eternity. And if you get the answer correct then it's on to the second task. If you wish to answer just shout out, 'the answer is: whatever.' Good luck."

                "Wait!" Harry yelled out. "What's the second task, and how much time do I have here, until I have to go to class!" But no one answered him.

                Harry quietly sat down and began to work out the clues that were given to him.

                'In ancient times, in the land of myth-probably a place where legends were very popular. A very feared creature did once exist-That could be any dangerous creature in the monster book of monsters. Its master always called it his pet-sounds a lot like Hagrid. But others would look at it with dread-definitely sounds like Hagrid. For this creature was like no other, it didn't even fear fire-so it's a monster that is immune to fire, could be a dragon. And as all beings could obviously see, to stop him you would need help at least in numbers three-so you would need at least three people to stop him, that doesn't make sense. If he was 'very feared' and can be defeated by three people, there's probably a deeper meaning to that one. The master used this creature for one reason, to guard the most precious things to anyone, the most precious things to any woman or man, for once they are gone you will never see them again- so he was a guardian of something very valuable. And the voice also said that it would be a blast from the past. He probably meant my past. So what did I do in my past that would help me with this riddle? The giant spiders Ron and I saw are used to guard many objects, but there's nothing about them in lands of myth. The sphinx is used to guard many things, and it's a popular myth. But I never heard of it not being afraid of fire." Harry sighed and continued thinking for the next few hours, still not having a clue of what the answer might be. 

It was harder for him to concentrate on the riddle, because the stakes here were very high. If he got the answer wrong then he would lose his soul, to that heartless being who was subjecting him to this. Who was this being and why was he doing this to Harry. Could it have been Voldemort? Was he the one who was doing this to Harry? No it couldn't have been. If Voldemort had the power to seal souls away, then he wouldn't subject Harry to this game, he would just seal Harry's soul up and that would be the end of it. It was someone or something else. But who or what would have that kind of power?

Harry immediately snapped out of his thoughts. "I'll figure this out later, now I have to figure out the riddle." Harry continued trying to figure out the riddle for the next few hours, but with no luck. The thoughts of whom the voice belonged to, kept resurfacing and distracting him.

"Oh, I give up!" Harry sighed. "What kind of nutter would want a creature like that for a pet? Only nutters like Hagrid would want something like that. Before he had a dragon, giant spiders, blast ended skrewts, Fluffy-" 

Then suddenly, light in Harry's head turned on. "Fluffy, of course!" Harry shouted. "There was another three headed dog in Greek mythology. He was lord Hades' pet, who guarded the souls in the underworld, he wasn't afraid of fire, because he guarded the gates of Tartarus, he had three heads so to keep an eye on him you would need at least three people, and he resembles Fluffy, who is in my past."

Harry stood up, took a deep breath and shouted, "The answer is: Cerberus, guardian of the the Greek underworld!"

   "Congratulations," a voice said out of nowhere. "You have solved my riddle, and it only took you three hours thirty seven minutes and seven seconds, not bad."

"Okay!" Harry shouted. "Now you have to keep your end of the bargain, let me go back to my world!"

"Let you go back?" The voice said lazily. "Aren't you forgetting about the second task? You have to do one more and then I'll let you go back to your miserable world."

"But that's not fair!" Harry protested. "Why do you get to make the rules?"

"Because this is my world, and in my world I make the rules, I decide what is fair and what isn't. Last time you were here, I let you live, I allowed you to return to your world, in return for nothing. However, if you wan to return this time, you have to do things my way."

 Then suddenly the darkness started to swerve out of control. It was forming a shape, a room, and a dark room. In about a minute a room that looked like a dungeon, a very familiar dungeon, replaced the darkness. Harry looked around the room, and realized that it wasn't a dungeon at all. It was a corridor, the third floor corridor, the one that was forbidden in Harry's first year. Harry looked down at himself and realized that he was wearing Hogwarts robes, and that a wand was in his hand.

"Now your challenge," The voice began. "Is to defeat this enemy from the past."

Harry looked to his left, and saw that a monster was forming out of nowhere. Although he couldn't tell what it was at first. Harry knew already the he was going to face Fluffy-Hagrid's giant three headed dog that Harry had met in his first year. Without thinking twice, Harry ripped a piece of his robe off and using a great deal of concentration (considering his situation) transfigured it into a flute. He was about to start playing it, but he was too late, Fluffy was already charging at him full speed. Harry tried to jump to the left, in order to get out of the way of Fluffy's charge, but the right head caught Harry's right leg in his mouth, and threw him across the room. Harry hit the wall so hard, that his head began bleeding, he tried to standup, but the bite that he received from Fluffy's right head hurt him too much. He looked down and saw that his leg was also bleeding. He looked back up and saw tat Fluffy was once again charging at him. Harry picked up his wand took aim and yelled out, "_Lumos Flarous_", and a very bright beam of light shot out of Harry's wand and went straight into Fluffy's eyes, blinding the creature. Fluffy yelled out a painful growl as he struggled to try to open his eyes and see its surroundings. Harry quickly seized this opportunity, and started to play the flute as best as he could. After about a minute of playing, Harry could see that Fluffy was losing its balance, and that its growls were becoming weaker. After about another two minutes Fluffy was completely out cold.

Harry slowly put down the flute, and gave a small sigh of relief, all the while not taking his eyes off Fluffy. 

"Congratulations, you were excellent." The voice said once again. The corridor was now disappearing and the darkness that Harry started out in was returning.

"Will you now let me go," Harry said weakly. He was bleeding from his head, and his right leg, plus he was also short of breath from playing the flute all that time.

"A promise is a promise," The voice said. "But before I let you go, I must ask you this: why did you come here in the first place?"

Harry eyes became wide once again. "What do you mean, don't you know?"

"No, I do not, I was never able to find that answer in your mind."

"I never wanted to come here!" Harry yelled. He was getting some of his strength back, as well as his anger. "I was just supposed to be sleeping."

"No one comes here without good reason, it is impossible, and you would never have been allowed. You probably do not know yourself why you are here. Your subconscious must have sent you here for answers."

"Answers to what?" Harry asked, now very confused and angry. "I don't even know the questions."

 "Still I'm sure that whatever reason you have come here for has been obliged to you. You have proven yourself worthy, and are now granted passage back to your world, but take heed, the knowledge that you have gained here, you must never reveal to anyone, for this is the forbidden knowledge, that is only sought when there is no other hope."

"What knowledge! I haven't learned anything!"

"Ah, but you have, no one ever leaves without learning what they needed. Goodbye Harry Potter!"

Harry's eyes opened up, and all he saw was the top of his four-poster bed. He slowly sat up, and opened his curtains only to see that it was still dark outside. Harry rubbed the back of his head, only to feel something warm and moist there. Harry looked back at his hand and saw that his hand was covered in blood. 

'How did that happen?' Harry wondered. Clearly, everything that had just occurred was erased from Harry's memory. 'I must have hit my head when I went to sleep. I better go to the Hospital wing.' Harry slowly stepped out of bed, only to fall on the floor. His right leg was aching so much that he couldn't stand on it. Harry looked at it and saw that it was bleeding as well. His eyes widened, as a mixture of fear and confusion struck him at once. 

"I better go to the hospital wing and see what's going on." He said to himself. He slowly got up, being very careful not to put too much pressure on his right leg, and headed off to the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey was in a very grouchy mood, but she agreed to take Harry in and heal him. She placed him on a bed, and said, "I'll be back in a second Potter, so don't move." Sure enough she was back very quickly with some potion and a washcloth. "Now sit still, while I treat your wounds."

Harry did as he was told, and sat still for a few moments. But the entire time he didn't seem to notice a change at all, he was still feeling pain in his head, and right leg. He was about to ask her what was wrong, but was stopped by her very shocked looking face.

Immediately she pushed Harry down on the bed and said for him to "lay still", rather tensely.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked.

"To get professor Dumbledore." Madam Pomfrey answered, as she headed towards the door.

"Why?" Harry asked, seemingly very confused.

"Because, the treatment doesn't seem to be working!" She said, and walked out the door.

A/n-I'm going to have to apologize once again, because this chapter ran long as well, it was supposed to be longer again, so I separated, the chapters once more. Sorry.


	15. The prediction

Disclaimer-I do not own Harry potter.

A/n- I am very sorry for my lack of updates. I was swamped with midterms, and I came down with some type of virus (don't know how to pronounce it, much less spell it). So without further ado, here's the next chapter.

                                                                The Prediction

                Harry quietly lay in bed waiting for madam Pomfrey to return with professor Dumbledore. He wasn't able to think much the entire time, being that his head and leg injuries were starting to hurt him more severely.

Although he was worried about the fact that madam Pomfrey couldn't heal his unknown injuries, he was quite confident that professor Dumbledore would be able to help him, and find out the cause of these injuries as well.

It had not even been five minutes since madam Pomfrey left, when professor Dumbledore entered the room. "Are you alright Harry?" was the first thing he said as soon as he saw Harry.

"My head, and leg hurt, but other than that I'm doing pretty good," Harry replied.

"Sit up," Dumbledore said gently as he walked towards Harry's bed. Harry did, as Dumbledore knelt down to see how Harry's leg was. "Do you know how this happened?" He asked, as he closely examined it.

Harry shook his head and said, "No, I just woke up and realized that I was bleeding from my head, and when I tried to get out of bed, I realized that my leg was bleeding too."

Dumbledore just nodded and continued looking at Harry's leg. "I can still walk on it as long as I don't put too much weight on it, so I don't think my leg is broken." Harry added, when he saw a worried look in Dumbledore's eyes.

Dumbledore just nodded, stood up and walked around Harry to examine his head. Both he and Harry stayed silent while he examined his head, both obviously not knowing what to say; Harry out of worry, and Dumbledore out of bafflement. After about a minute of examining Harry, Dumbledore took out his wand and tried to heal Harry with a spell. After he saw that it didn't work, he tried another one, and when that didn't work, he tried a different one. After about seven unsuccessful attempts at healing Harry, Dumbledore put away his wand, and took out a small jar that was filled with clear looking water. 

Harry turned around, wondering what Dumbledore was doing and noticed him opening the jar. "Um, professor?" Harry started.

"Yes?" Dumbledore said as he turned his attention back towards Harry. 

"What is that stuff?" Harry asked.

"These," Dumbledore said, holding the jar right in front of Harry's face. "Are phoenix tears."

 Harry's eyes widened a bit when he heard this.

"As you already know, phoenix tears have the power to heal almost all injuries. I always make sure to keep some in my office for emergencies."

Harry just nodded.

"But do not worry, I did not do anything terrible to fawkes in order to make him cry." Fawkes was Dumbledore's pet phoenix, who coincidently gave the tales feathers to make both Harry's and Voldemort's wands. "He usually cries every time he is reborn, and when he does I collect some of his tears. Aside from healing powers, phoenix tears are used in many powerful potions like _vacilarias_."

Harry just nodded again.

"Do you know what that is Harry?" Dumbledore asked, sounding more like a teacher asking a question, than a person trying to explain something.

Harry nodded again and said, "Yeah. It's a potion that can increase the body's production of stem cells."

"Very good, I see that professor Snape is doing a good job."

Harry didn't say anything, he just rolled his eyes and turned his head back, which made Dumbledore chuckled a bit. "Ok," Dumbledore said. "I'm going to try these on your head first."

"Ok," Harry said, as he waited for Dumbledore to start the treatment. After about a minute after Dumbledore started to rub the tears on the back of Harry's head, Harry felt the pain in his head get weaker.

"How do you feel?" Dumbledore asked.

"It still hurts a little," Harry responded.

"Well, at least the wound is gone," Dumbledore stated as he walked around and knelt by Harry's leg again. He applied the same treatment to Harry's leg as he did to his head, and after about half a minute Harry saw that his leg was starting to heal, although some of the pain was still there.

"This is the best I could do," Dumbledore sighed, as stood up once again. 

"Thank you, it feels a lot better." Harry said.

Dumbledore didn't answer right away; he just sat next to Harry, and said, "Can you recall anything that could've done this to you?"

Harry just shook his head.

Dumbledore just sighed again.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, getting a little more worried with his situation. "Do you think that this has anything to do with my scar?"

"It very well might," Dumbledore nodded. "Not much is known about your scar, and I have never seen an injury that not even phoenix tears couldn't heal completely."

Harry just looked down at the floor. Obviously Dumbledore could see right through him when he said that he was okay.

"Harry," Dumbledore said, making Harry look up. "I am going to go now. Do you think that you can make it to your classes today?"

Harry nodded and said, "Yes, I'm fine, really."

"Good," Dumbledore said, as he got up and headed towards the door. "I will tell professor McGonagall to postpone your remaining detentions for the time being. Stay here for the remainder of the night. Once morning comes, you can return to your tower."

"Ok," Harry said as he lay back down. 

With that Dumbledore left the room, leaving Harry to his thoughts. 

'None of this makes any sense,' Harry thought to himself. 'First I find some kind of magic book full of dangerous dark magic, then a unicorn asks me for my help on something so important that he would give up his special gift on a human, and now I have some kind of unknown injuries that can't be healed by any type of magical medicine, except for phoenix tears. All these things have got to be connected somehow. But the question is how?' Harry turned over to his side and sighed. 'I better not tell Ron or Hermione about this, or they'll have even more to worry about. And they have enough on their plates, especially Hermione.' He rolled on his back once again as his thoughts drifted to her. 'She was so worried about me. She really is a great friend. I just hope that Dumbledore can figure this out. Then he'll be able to solve all these problems that we have now. Then things can go back to normal between all of us.'

Harry stayed up for the rest of the night with similar thoughts in his head.

It was very early in the morning that Harry decided to head back to Gryffindor tower in order to get dressed and leave for breakfast. He thought that because of his leg was still in pain that he would have a harder time getting from one place to another in time, so he decided to have breakfast early. At least that way he wouldn't be late for his first class.

When he entered his room he saw that no one had awakened yet, so he quietly showered, dressed and left for breakfast on his own.

When he arrived at the great hall he saw that only one other person was there, and that person happened to be a Gryffindor that he never seen before. He walked closer towards the person and realized that it was Olivea.

As soon as she saw him, she smiled and said, "Hi."

Harry responded and sat at as plate beside her. 

"Today will officially be my first day of school!" Olivea exclaimed, before Harry could say anything. "I can't wait!"

"But what are you doing here?" Harry asked, as he poured some porridge into his bowl. "I thought you go to school in America?"

"I did," She casually. "But my dad was transferred to Alaska, so I can't see him anymore. Hermione did tell you the story with my mom and dad, didn't she?"

Harry nodded.

"Since there are no wizarding schools in Alaska, my mom thought that there was no reason for me to go back to America. So she talked with professor Dumbledore, explained my situation to him, and he let me into school."

"But couldn't you go to school in America, and have your father fly or apparate to see you on weekends? If he really wanted to see you then I'm sure he would do it, right?"

"Well…er…" Olivea stuttered, seemingly getting a little nervous.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked. "Is it something that I shouldn't know about?"

"Okay," Olivea finally said. "I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone, ok?"

Harry nodded and said, "Ok."

"My mother is a full witch, but my father is a…" She seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"A muggle?" Harry said.

"A squib," Olivea corrected. "That was one of the reasons my parents got a divorce in the first place. At first my mom said she didn't mind, but after being married for a while, it sort of started to sink in."

"Oh, sorry," Harry said in a low voice.

Olivea just shook her head and told him not to worry about it. "They had other problems besides that. And I got to spend four years with him, and I'll be visiting him during the winter break so, everything's all right."

"So tell me," Harry said, trying to change the subject. "How did you get into Gryffindor?"

"Professor Dumbledore used the sorting hat on me during the summer."

"I see."

"You know, I'm not the only transfer student here," Olivea said, surprising Harry a little. "There are others here that you just didn't notice."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I met two fourth years in Ravenclaw and one second year in Hufflepuff."

"I guess it's because I was raised in the muggle world all my life that I've become oblivious of the obvious things in the wizarding world. Up until last year I didn't even know that there were other schools besides Hogwarts. I guess I learn something new every year," He said, while finally taking his first spoonful of porridge into his mouth.

Olivea just smiled and continued eating her porridge.

"So what are you doing here so early?" Harry asked.

"I thought I'd look around before going to class. Besides it's going to take a while before I get to know this place, I have to get up early or I'll be late for my first class. That and I couldn't sleep. I mean this is my first official day of school."

"I thought that school started two days ago?"

"For you yes, but I still had some things to work out with the teachers and the headmaster. S.I.T. is different than Hogwarts, as far as classes go, so I had to talk to each teacher separately in order to find out what I lack. It took longer than expected because the teachers are getting things ready for the wizard's duel."

Harry just nodded again.

"By the way, are you entering the duel?" Olivea asked. 

"I don't think so. Are you?"

"Definitely!" Olivea said with excitement in her voice. "I can't wait to try out my skills against other wizards. Plus that O.W.L. is appealing too. Why aren't you entering?"

"Because I want to stay out of the spotlight for once. If I enter, everyone will once again start treating me different. They'll think that I'm only doing it in order to show off. I worked hard for the last four years to try to get everyone to treat my like a normal person."

"And did it work?" Olivea said shrewdly.

"No." Harry said shortly.

"Harry, people are going to think whatever they want about you. Whether you enter or not, will not change their opinion of you. If they think you're a showoff then they'll say that the reason you're not entering is because you think you're too good for them, that they're not enough of a challenge for you; or because you're afraid of getting your over-inflated head popped, if you lose. 

"Hermione told me what happened last year when you were forced into the Triwizard tournament. Everyone started being mean to you for no reason at all. But the truth is that they were all just jealous. And they were using the tournament thing as an excuse to let out their anger on you."

"What's there to be jealous of?" Harry said in a low voice. "A stupid scar."

"Well, you know that they say: 'the grass is always greener on the other side'. Hermione and I on the other hand see that there is a whole other side to you. Behind the scar, so to say."

Harry didn't say anything; he just sat there and continued eating.

"One thing that Hermione really admires about you is that you don't let this whole you-know-who thing go to your head, while almost anyone else would."

"So what's your first class?" Harry asked desperately trying to change the subject.

"Divination. After that it's charms, intermediate arithmancy, care of magical creatures, defense against the dark arts, and astronomy at night. Basically I have the same classes as you, except for arithmancy of course."

"Actually, we have all the same classes," Harry corrected.

"Really, but Hermione never told me you took arithmancy with her?"

"I didn't," Harry said shortly.

"Then this is your first year?"

Harry nodded.

"And you're taking the intermediate course?"

Harry nodded again.

Olivea just sighed and said, "good luck".

"Is it really that hard?" Harry asked.

"Not if you understand the basic formula. Because everything you learn originates from that. If you want, I could help you out."

"Actually professor McGonagall already assigned Hermione as my tutor."

"Well that's good, I'm sure she knows it better than anyone."

"That's the idea."

"Well," Olivea said, checking her watch. "I have to go, there are still some parts of the castle that I have yet to see." With that she got up and headed towards the great hall door. "See you later!" she said as she left.

Harry quickly finished his porridge, and headed off towards the divination class.   

It was much more difficult for him to get there this time because of the pain in his right leg forced him to limp up the stairs of the tower. 

When he entered the divinations classroom, he noticed that the whole room was very dimly lit. It was almost impossible to see the tables in the room, so Harry tried to feel them out in the darkness. He didn't understand why, but for some reason this felt very familiar to him. As soon as he found a table, he sat down in the chair next to it, and began to wait for the rest of the class to come it.

As he sat there, his thoughts once again drifted towards some of the things that happened to him this year so far. This time his thoughts were mainly on his injuries, and the look that Dumbledore had on his face earlier that morning. 'Something very big is going to happen,' he thought to himself. 'I just hope that whatever it is Dumbledore can handle it.'

"IT WILL HAPPEN VERY SOON!" An unknown voice said. 

Harry quickly pulled out his wand and yelled, "_Lumos!_" A light shined at the tip of his wand and revealed a woman with giant glasses sitting very rigidly in a chair. It was professor Trelawny, and she was obviously having one of her rare real predictions. The only other time she had one was when she predicted Voldemort's return in Harry's third year.

"WHEN THE FOOLS COMBINE WITH THE DARKNESS AND LIGHT, THE BEGINNING OF THE END SHALL BEGIN!" Immediately after she finished that line, her body lost its rigidity, and she almost keeled over. She had to catch the armrests of her chair to keep herself from falling out of it.

Harry just sat there looking at her strangely, not saying anything.

She slowly came to, and looked over to where Harry was sitting. "Hello, my dear," she said. "You came I bit early, didn't you."

"Professor," Harry started. "Do you remember anything that you just said now?"

Professor Trelawny just looked at Harry strangely, and said; "I didn't say anything just now. I just woke up. At first I was just resting my eyes, but I must have dozed off for a bit."

Harry immediately knew that this was definitely one of her real predictions, and that this was definitely one of the things that Dumbledore should know about. "Uh, professor," Harry started. "I just realized that I have to see professor Dumbledore about something extremely important. May I be excused?"

"But my dear, class hasn't even started, and today we are going to learn how top read the stars," professor Trelawny said.

"This is very important," Harry said, while getting up and heading down the trap door, without even listening for professor Trelawny's response. "_Nox. _I'll be back soon!" he called.

Harry walked as fast as he could towards Dumbledore's office, and considering the fact that his leg was still hurting him, this was no easy task. "Mars bar!" Harry yelled as soon as he reached the stone gargoyle. Immediately the Gargoyle sprang to life and moved out of the way, while the wall behind it opened up to reveal a spiral staircase. Harry went up the staircase and into Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore was there, sitting behind his desk writing something down on a piece of parchment when Harry came into his office.

"Professor," Harry said in an exasperated voice. 

Dumbledore looked up, and said, "What is it?" in the type of voice that made it seem like he was expecting Harry.

Harry walked up to the desk, sat down on the chair in front of Dumbledore's desk, and said, "Remember, when you told me to report anything unusual to you right away?"

Dumbledore nodded and said, "Has your scar been hurting you?"

"No," Harry said while shaking his head. "I was just in Professor Trelawny's classroom, and she had another real prediction."

"Go on," Dumbledore said, as he readjusted him self to the edge of his seat.

"She said something about when fools find the darkness and light, the end shall begin or something. I can't remember too well."

"It's ok Harry. Just relax." Dumbledore said as he took out his wand and tapped Harry's forehead with it. He then immediately shot some kind of light into the cupboard behind Harry. Harry understood what Dumbledore had done. He took Harry's memory and saved it in a magical object called the _Pensieve_. "Now let's take a look at what happened. This way will be a lot easier and more precise than by having you try and explain it to me."

Harry and Dumbledore both stood up and headed towards the pensieve in the cupboard. Dumbledore opened the cupboard, and both he and Harry looked inside. Slowly the silver liquid started swirling around in a circle, and an image of darkness appeared inside of it. As soon as the picture was complete the liquid stopped swirling, and became calm again. "IT WILL HAPPEN VERY SOON!" Professor Trelawny's voice yelled out of the pensieve. "Lumos!" Harry's voice yelled out, and the light of Harry's wand revealed both Harry and professor Trelawny there. "WHEN THE FOOLS COMBINE WITH THE DARKNESS AND LIGHT, THE BEGINNING OF THE END SHALL BEGIN!" Then as it showed professor Trelawny keel over, the memory started fading and was soon replace by the silver liquid once again.

Harry looked at Dumbledore, who motioned Harry to follow him to his desk.

Harry followed him and once again sat down in the chair in front of Dumbledore's desk. 

Dumbledore once again sat down behind his desk and sighed for a second. "Looks like we're going to have to accelerate our plans" he said under his breath.

"Sorry?" Harry said.

"Harry," Dumbledore said in a very serious voice. "Are you sure that that was everything that professor Trelawny said. That there wasn't anything else that might have slipped your mind."

Harry nodded. "What does this mean?" He asked.

Dumbledore just shook his head, and said, "I don't know."

Harry just lowered his head and sighed. Ever since he first came to Hogwarts he was used to Dumbledore always solving all of his problems for him. It wasn't until the end of Harry's fourth year that Harry truly realized that Dumbledore might not have all the answers for him.

"Divination," Dumbledore started. "Is the most imprecise brand of magic. Although it seems that she is having a true prediction, we don't have the means to figure out what her words mean."

"What do you mean professor?" Harry asked.

"She said, 'the beginning of the end', but she never said of what. Maybe she meant the beginning of the end of the world. On the other hand she could've meant the beginning of the end of Lord Voldemort's reign. It could mean the beginning of the end of anything, from the life of a tiny bumblebee, to the lives of all living creatures. It is still too early to decipher what she had said."

Harry nodded. He knew that Dumbledore was just saying that to ease Harry's worry, but for some reason, Harry felt like he was safe to believe in what Dumbledore had said. After all, to Harry Dumbledore was like a Grandfather who you could always trust. "Ok," Harry said.

"I think that we should keep this between us as well," Dumbledore said. "There is no need to start a panic, not until we know more about this.

"Now I suggest that you head back to class."

"Thank you," Harry said as he got up and headed towards the door.

"Harry," Dumbledore called after him. Harry stopped at the door and looked back at Dumbledore. "How are your injuries?" he asked.

"Much better, I don't feel any pain at all," Harry lied.

"That's good," Dumbledore said, with a smile forming at his lips. "Well, go on now." With that Harry left for his divination class.

A few moments after Harry left, the smile on Dumbledore's face turned into a huge frown. Dumbledore sighed and buried his face in his hands. "Heavenly father," Dumbledore said in a weak voice. "Please forgive me for what I am about to do." 

A/n-It happened again. This chapter ran long again. So I had to postpone the chapter that I was going to write again. What is it now like 4 chapters, I've postponed that one chapter. Oh well, read and review.


	16. The Switching Charm

Disclaimer-I do not own Harry Potter.

A/n-Because I did not write a new chapter for so long, I felt that I needed to write the next one right away. And also, as I wrote in my bio-I do accept flames. You can flame all you want, as long as you have a reason. For example: If you say, "Your story sucks ass", and just leave it at that, I'm just going to ignore you. However, if you say, "Your story sucks ass because it's too short, or there's not enough Ron in it, or anything else", then I will take your opinion into consideration, and try my best to accommodate you (unless it's something stupid like D/Hr, or H/R or D/H so don't even bother).

                                                                The Switching Charm

                Harry slowly limped back to his divination class. Although he was still worried about what professor Trelawny had predicted, he tried to not let it bother him. "Whatever it is, Dumbledore will handle it," he kept telling himself all the way up to the tower where his divination class was in. 

                As soon as Harry opened the trap door, which led to his class, a beautiful sight hit his eyes. The entire classroom was completely dark except for the middle of the room. And in the middle stood miniature version of glowing stars and constellations. The stars were all moving in perfect harmony with each other. The constellations were shining brightly illuminating how beautiful the stars surrounding them were. Harry could hardly believe that this was his divination class. Usually it involved nothing except professor Trelawny ranting about how Harry was going to die very soon. Even though it was for a good cause, Harry still felt a little mad at himself for not staying for the beginning of class, and missing what had happened.

                As quickly as he could Harry ran into to room [ignoring the pain in his leg], and took a seat closest to the trap door. Everyone was so interested with the class, that no one even noticed Harry come in; and if they did, they just ignored him, and continued to listen to what professor Trelawny had to say.

                "And as you see my darlings," professor Trelawny was saying. "Because the stars from Orion's belt move in perfect harmony with the stars from Asora's belt, that means that no tragedies will occur for the time being."

                'No tragedies?' Harry thought disbelievingly. 'Voldemort is back! I don't think things can get more tragic than that. The light show may look nice, but she still doesn't have a clue what she's talking about. Maybe it's not such a bad thing that I missed most of this class after all.'

                "And as you can see, Asora's comet is…" Immediately she gasped, causing the students to all turn in her direction.

                "What is professor?" asked Lavender, who was already on the edge of her seat.

                "The comet has shifted it's direction, and is now headed towards the eye of the constellation," professor Trelawny said, in a very low and mysterious voice.

                "Oh, no," Lavender and Parvati said in unison.

                "Yes my dears, it can only mean one thing…" she continued.

                'Here it comes,' Harry thought sarcastically.

                "DEATH my dears," she said causing almost everyone (especially Parvati and Lavender) to gasp. "I must examine this closer," she got up and moved over to where the constellations were. She moved right between them and examined the comet that had just flown by. She didn't say anything for a while; she just kept staring at the comet.

                'I bet I know whose death,' Harry thought to himself, while he just sat back in his chair waiting for professor Trelawny to yell out his name. 

                "This is horrible," professor Trelawny said in a gasp. "According to this, the person will not only die in body, but will also die in spirit."

                "What is it professor?" Parvati asked in a whisper. She was also at the edge of her seat waiting for professor Trelawny to continue. "What does that mean?"

                "It is a horrible fate my dears, and it will soon befall on one of the people sitting in this room!" She finished dramatically, while pointing her right index finger to where Harry was sitting.

                The entire class gasped when they saw that professor Trelawny had pointed at Harry. Most of the class didn't gasp because of the prediction, but because it was Harry that she pointed to. They all knew that Harry's archenemy was Voldemort. And they all knew about Harry's close encounter with death in his previous year when Voldemort came back. And this prediction only exacerbated their fear of Voldemort, which was already great to begin with. The only one that didn't gasp [besides Harry] was Ron, who by now was without a doubt sure that professor Trelawny was a fake.

When Harry saw her point to him, he just yawned a bit, in order to show her that he wasn't afraid of her prediction, which caused some of the other students [including Ron] to snicker a bit.

                "So," professor Trelawny said, as she moved closer to where Harry was sitting. "You are not afraid are you?" She stopped right by him and leaned in so her nose almost touched Harry's. "That is good my dear," she whispered. "You should not fear the future, rather you should just accept it, and live the rest of your life as best as you can."

                Harry didn't say anything to this he just nodded quickly.

                "But aren't even curious of how you are going to die my dear," she continued, raising her voice to just above a whisper.

                'Old age?' Harry thought. 'Or being creeped out by you predicting my death all the time?'

                "That is what interests us all my dears," she continued in her normal voice, while moving away from Harry and heading back to her chair. "When and how and why we shall die."

                She slowly sat in her chair not saying anything for a minute, which made Lavender and Parvati almost fall of the edge of their seats. "That is why, for you homework this week, you will go to the astronomy tower for every night this week and use the stars to see how each of you will die. I want a report on this next Monday." She waived her wand once and the constellation quickly disappeared, and the torches on the side were once again dimly lit. "You may leave now my dears."

                Everyone slowly gathered their things and started heading out of the classroom. The only ones that stayed were Lavender and Parvati, obviously wanting to ask professor Trelawny some questions about that day's class.

                As soon as Harry left through the trap, door he met up with Ron, who was waiting for him at the bottom.

                "Can you believe it?" Ron said. "She wants us to predict our own deaths. That's kind of depressing isn't it?"

                "I guess," Harry said, in a low voice. "But at least I have a head start."

                "Yeah, I'd think she'd leave you alone with that just once; but looks like she's still going to keep at it."

                "Yeah, I guess so," Harry said in the same low voice.

                "Well come on then we have to get to charms class," Ron said with what seemed like glee in his voice. 

                This surprised Harry a bit. Ron had never been happy about going to classes, especially when it came to charms. He wanted to ask him why he seemed so eager to go but thought better of it.

                "I'll catch up with you," Harry said. "I have to talk with professor Trelawny about missing class."

                "I'll wait for you," Ron said.

                "No that's okay."

                "Are you sure?"

                "Yeah, I'll see you in class." 

                With that Ron walked down the stairs of the tower towards the exit looking back only once.

                The truth was that Harry didn't have to talk with professor Trelawny; he just didn't want Ron to notice Harry limping because of the pain in his leg. If he would, then he might start asking questions of how he got it and why he just didn't get madam Pomfrey to fix him up.

                Harry waited for a few minutes before heading down the stairs of the tower. His leg still hurt him as much as before, but he persevered.

                Because of his leg, Harry barely made it on time for professor Flitwick's charms class. All of the seats already seemed to be taken except for the seat between Ron and Hermione. He looked around and noticed that Olivea was sitting next to Lavender and Parvati. Obviously Ron and Hermione were saving that seat for him. Harry slowly walked over to the chair trying his best to hide his limp. This however only made his leg hurt more. 

                As soon as he sat down he heard Hermione's voice nagging him about how he was almost late.

                "Relax Hermione," Ron said to her. "Harry just had to talk to that old fraud about missing class."

                "Why did you miss class Harry?" Hermione asked him, with suspicion in her voice.

                "Why do you care," Ron said before Harry could say anything. "Divination is a worthless class anyway, right."

                "That still doesn't give Harry the right to miss it Ron," Hermione retaliated.

                Ron was about to say something, but professor Flitwick came in and cut him short.

                Professor Flitwick was the short, kind teacher with a hooked nose and a very forgiving personality. Although this did not mean he was weak; for he was once a dueling champion.

                "Settle down class, we have a lot of work to do today," He said as he walked over and stood upon a few large books. "Now that we are in the fifth year," He started speaking, while he turned towards the class. "We are going to start on a few of the more complicated charms."

                This announcement made a few students shift their bodies in their seats.

                 "As you already know, you will be taking your O.W.L.'s this year, therefore you will have to study now more than ever. I of course will help prepare you for them as best as I can. 

                "This year we will practice charms and spells that involve double-thinking."

                A few students, who were obviously confused, started to whisper among each other.

                "Now what does that mean?" professor Flitwick continued. "Well, let me show you an example." He jumped down from his stack of books and faced the chair behind his desk. "_Wingardium Leviosa_," he said, and the chair started to hover in midair. A few students just sat there obviously completely baffled as to what professor Flictwick was doing. Hermione was the only one who closely paid attention to what professor Flitwick was doing.

                "Now do you see what I did?" No one answered him. "I levitated the chair right here closer to me." Everyone just stared at him strangely. "Now I was able to do that because I focused my concentration on the chair, and moved it to myself. The chair was my primary thought." Still no one said anything. "But there are some spells that don't allow a single primary thought. Spells that force you to concentrate on two separate objects at once. That students, is where you have to learn to double-think."

                Professor Flitwick quickly used his magic to levitate an old wooden stool to his side. "The simplest spell that involves double-thinking," He started once again when the stool was in place next to him. "Is the switching charm."

                 A few students started whispering once again.

                "Do not confuse the switching charm for a simple switching spell that you learned in your tranfiguration class," professor Flitwick immediately said. "The switching charm and the switching spell are too different things. 

"The switching spell," he pointed his wand at the chair. "Only concentrates on one primary and one secondary." He said the enchantment and switched the legs of the chair with the legs of the stool. He turned back to the class and said, "Do your see, my primary concern was to transfigure the legs of this chair with the legs of the stool, my secondary was the chair and stool themselves. It was basically one primary thought and one secondary thought. However, a switching charm requires a little more concentration than that. Watch," he pointed his wand towards the stool and said, "_Racco_," then he pointed his wand to the chair and said, "_Swasso_." And immediately the chair and the stool switched places. Professor Flitwick turned back to the class and said, "Now you may wonder: 'why would I need to learn such a complicated charm, when I can just use the switching spell?' right?" 

A few students nodded when he said this.

"Well the answer is because, the switching spell has limits to how much you can transfigure, while the charms limits extend to as far as your innate powers. In other words, the switching charm can be used to switch houses, classes, mountains, and can even be used for minor teleportation." He pointed towards Olivea and said, "Racco," then he pointed to himself and said, "Swasso." Immediately both Olivea and professor Flitwick switched places. "You see," professor Flitwick called from Olivea's seat. "You can't use a switching spell to do that, can you?" He used the spell on Olivea and himself one more time, and placed Olivea back in her seat, while placing himself right in front of the class, where Olivea just stood. 

"Even in a place like Hogwarts," he said as soon as he reappeared. "Where apparition is not allowed, the switching charm will work on humans, as long as you concentrate carefully."

The students once again started whispering among themselves, this time in amazement.

"Now I don't expect any of you to get this right away, but I think it would be best if we start right away." He went behind his desk, opened a drawer and took out two boxes. "Come on up and I will give each of you a needle and a match. You will start with something little today. We'll move on to bigger things later."

One by one the students came up to professor Flitwick's desk, took their needle and match, and headed back towards their seats to try and make the charm work.

Professor Flitwick was right, no one in the class was able to make the charm work for them. Even Hermione was struggling with this one, much to Ron's delight. 

"Having a bit of a hard time," Ron said in a gloating-like voice.

Hermione just turned to him and said, "I wouldn't speak if I were you. I still know about a hundred times as many spells as you, while you don't even know what a proton is, so you have nothing to gloat about." 

Ron turned to his side and pretending to sulk, when he was really laughing about how defensive Hermione got.

"How are you doing Harry?" Hermione asked, facing him.

Harry felt a little nervous at that moment. This was the first time he said anything to Hermione since the previous night, when he had detention with her. "I haven't tried it yet," he said shortly.

"Well, go ahead then," Hermione urged.

Harry pointed his wand at the needle, said "Racco," then pointed it at the match, said "Swasso," and nothing happened.

"You're not concentrating enough," Hermione said.

 "Like you can do any better," Ron said with glee in his voice.

Hermione just ignored him and continued working on her own match and needle.

On their way to lunch, Ron and Hermione argued with each other about what happened in class the entire time. In fact they were so into their argument that they failed to notice Harry limping alongside them-much to his delight.

At lunch Ron and Hermione were still arguing over what happened in charms class while Harry just sat quietly between them, eating his lunch and focusing his mind on his own thoughts.

"Well, well, well," a cold voice sneered, snapping Harry out of his thoughts, and causing Hermione and Ron to stop arguing and look up. The voice belonged to none other than Draco Malfoy, who was as usual accompanied by Crabbe and Goyle.

"It's been awhile Potter. You never visit, you never write. I was beginning to think that the dark lord caught you already," he said with a chuckle, while Crabbe and Goyle started laughing hysterically. 

Harry just ignored him, while Hermione and Ron gave Malfoy a look of loathing.

"Looks like you've been working out," Malfoy continued, ignoring the looks that Hermione and Ron were giving him. "Training for the big duel huh?" Harry still didn't answer him. "Well, I have news for you. You wont be the big winner this time, I'm afraid I will be taking over that role."

Harry just looked up at him and said, "Have fun."

Malfoy sneering face immediately turned into a stunned one. "What do you mean by that?" He said quickly.

"I mean, I'm not entering."

Malfoy's eyes widened for a second, then lowered back to normal. 'We'll see about that!' Malfoy thought to himself as he signaled Crabbe and Goyle to leave.

"What do reckons up with him?" Ron said, as soon as Malfoy left. "Why did he leave so soon?"

"He's probably mad about Harry not entering the Wizard's Duel," Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, you're right," Ron said after thinking for about a minute. "He's so cocky, that he thinks no one is worthy of facing him besides Harry."

"I don't know about that," Hermione said fixing her eyes at the Slytherin table, to where Malfoy sat down. "I think it's something else."

While Ron was looking at Malfoy, his eyes wandered over to the staff table. "Hey Harry," he said, nudging Harry on the side with his right elbow and pointing to the teachers table with his left hand. "I think McGonagall wants to see you."

Harry looked up and saw McGonagall motioning Harry to come to the staff table.

"She probably wants to talk about my remaining detentions," Harry said, as he stood up. "I'll be right back." With that he walked over to the staff table, once again trying to hide his limp.

"What is it professor?" Harry asked as soon as he arrived at the staff table.

"Why aren't you wearing your prefects badge?" she said in a stern voice.

 "Oh, sorry." Harry immediately dug into his pocket, took out his shiny silver badge and pinned it to his Hogwarts uniform. 

"Make sure you keep it on you at all times!" She said in the same stern voice.

"Yes professor," Harry replied.

"For reasons that he couldn't tell me professor Dumbledore told me to postpone your remaining detentions."

Harry just nodded.

Professor McGonagall leaned in a bit closer to Harry, and whispered, "Albus told me he returned to book to you, is that right?"

Harry nodded.

"Did you find out anything new about it?" she whispered once again.

Harry just shook his head.

"Well, make sure you don't tell anyone else about this, not even Miss Granger or Mr. Weasley, do you understand?" she ended in her same stern tone.

"Yes professor."

"Good," she said sitting up and speaking in her normal voice. "I will inform you of your next detentions by owl. Now go finish your lunch, your first arithmancy class is after this."

Harry nodded and returned to his seat.

As he was going back, he noticed a few people staring at his new badge. Fred and George pretended they were going to cry when they saw it. 

"Say it ain't so Harry," Fred said, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye.

"Say it ain't so," George said, doing the same thing.

Harry just ignored them and went back to his seat between Ron and Hermione.

"Wow!" Hermione exclaimed. "You're a prefect too?"

"Harry," Ron said in a low voice. "You're a disgrace to the Marauders."

"Be quiet Ron!" Hermione said, hitting him on the shoulder. "I think it's great that Harry's been made a prefect."

"You would."

Hermione just gave him a dirty look.

"What's next," Ron continued ignoring Hermione. "Are you going to start taking arithmancy?"

Harry just sat there, not answering.

"Harry?" Ron said, with suspicion in his voice.

"He already is," Hermione said victoriously.

Ron quickly turned to face Hermione, and then turned to face Harry once again. "It's like I don't even know you anymore," he said with mock sadness.

"Be quiet," Harry said lightheartedly.

"No really, what's next? Are you gonna make top marks too?"

"What's wrong with making top marks?" Hermione said, sounding a little hurt.

"Nothing for you," Ron said, turning back to Hermione. "But for me and Harry, it's a big deal."

"First of all," Hermione started in her tutting voice. "It's 'Harry and I'. Second of all, I think it would be wonderful if Harry made high marks, especially since we have to take the O.W.L.'s this year."

Ron just rolled his eyes.

"And don't roll your eyes at me! Now is the time to stop playing all your little games and become more studious."

"Yeah, whatever Hermione," Ron said sarcastically, as he went back to eating his lunch.

Hermione just sighed and went back to her food.

Harry on the other hand, just put his knife and fork down, and excused himself from the great hall, without even bothering to wait for Ron and Hermione's response.

As soon as he was a few corridors away from the great hall, he leaned his body against the wall and sighed from despair. "The way they're talking. They're pretending like everything is the same as it always was," he said in a weak almost breaking voice. "But it's not. Everything's changed. I've changed."

He barely picked himself up, and started walking again. "They don't understand, nobody does," he said to himself while he was walking. "I should have never come back. I can't be the same person that they once knew, no matter how hard I try." Harry grabbed the stitch in his chest and held it tightly. "It…just…hurts…too…much."

He slowly walked into an empty classroom that was near him and sat in the nearest desk, still clutching his chest. 'Why can't things go back to the way they were?' He thought in despair. 'Why does it have to be this way?'

'Don't worry, we'll get through this together. I promise.' A familiar voice said in his mind.

Harry looked up and mouthed the word "Hermione". 

'She was always there for me, no matter what. When everyone was against me, she still stood by my side. She didn't care what happened to her. She only cared about helping me.' Harry took a deep breath, exhaled and said, "she still does. I really don't deserve it, but she still does."

Harry slowly got up and out of the chair, walked out of the classroom, and continued walking aimlessly around the castle.

He walked for about fifteen minutes with the same thoughts in his head. Of how much things have changed, and how much things were going to change in the future. He truly felt scared of what was happening and what was going to happen.

He continued on this path for another few minutes, until a rustling noise snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked up and saw that he had somehow stumbled upon the owlry.

'I wonder if Hedwig came back yet?' Harry wondered at that moment. 'It's been a few day since I sent her off to deliver a letter to Sirius.' 

He slowly walked up the steps, and was about the door, when the door opened itself up, making Harry stop in his tracks.

"Olivea?" Harry said in surpsise.

"Harry?" Olivea gasped, just as surprised as Harry.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked.

"Owling my father, what are you doing here?" 

"I came to see if Hedwig came back."

"Hedwig?" Olivea looked at him curiously.

"My owl. She's a white snow owl, have you seen here in there?"

"Yeah, actually I have." Olivea nodded. "It seems like she just came back from a long trip, and is resting up. She had a letter tied to her leg too."

Harry's eyes widened a bit when he heard this. "Really?" 

"Yeah, why don't we go read it together?" Olivea offered.

"Oh no," Harry said quickly. "It's kind of private personal mail, I hope you understand?"

"No problem," Olivea said casually, as she walked by Harry. "By the way," she said as she turned around to face Harry once more. "Are you alright?"

Harry nodded and said, "Of course, everything is just fine."

"Are you sure?" Olivea said.

Harry just gave her a fake smile and said, "Yeah."

"Okay then, see you in arithmancy." With that she walked off down the hall.

As soon as Harry saw that Olivea was out of sight, he dashed into the owlry, and immediately started searching for Hedwig. He found her in no time, being that she was the only snow owl in the barn.

"Hey Hedwig," Harry said, as he was walking up to her. "How have you been?"

Hedwig just nibbled his hand affectionately, while Harry removed the letter that Sirius had sent. "You obviously didn't fly down in the great hall, because you knew there might be a chance of somebody intercepting it there. Good job."

Hedwig proudly stood up, and flew over to another part of the barn to rest.  

Harry opened the letter and started to read it.

_Dear Harry,_

_I'm glad you took my advice and returned to Hogwarts. For a second there, I thought I would have to drag you onto that train kicking and screaming. _

_Listen. I've been hearing many strange rumors about Voldemort lately. It appears that he's been keeping it quiet for the time being. They say he's after some kind of weapon, although I don't know anything about it. And I've been hanging around some of the men from Voldemort's inner circle (don't worry they just think that I'm a stray). That's right. Whatever he's doing is so secret that he doesn't even trust the death eaters closest to him. He's obviously been very careful about the amount of information that he's released. _

_Harry you must stay on your guard no matter what!_

_And if anything out of the ordinary happens to you, tell Dumbledore immediately! Even if your scar just itches a little funny! Don't risk it! Tell him! We are living in a very fragile time now, and I feel like even the smallest catalyst can shatter everything we know and love._

_Owl me as soon as you can with any new developments in Hogwarts._

_                                                                                Sincerely,_

_                                                                                Snuffles_

PS: Keep your eyes on the Slytherins. I don't care what Dumbledore says, they can't be trusted, especially Malfoy's son.

Harry rolled up the letter, quickly walked out of the owlry. 'I'll send him a letter tonight.'

A/n: Honestly, I didn't mean for it to happen again, but once again my story ran long. So once again the chapter that I intended to write (about 4 chapters ago) will have to be postponed. Sorry. R/r.


	17. The Wizard's Duel Announcement

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Ans to reviews- 1) angry fan- I'm sorry, but I don't have a computer anymore. I am using the school computers to write this story, and they have set time limits on how often you can use them.

2) Chris- Yes I admit that it is tacky. But the reason I started with the Riddle how was because a) I wanted to establish a scary atmosphere. The reason I chose the riddle house is because it is familiar to everyone, I could've chosen any other place, but that would require that I describe it completely, and then the chapter would be like 5000-6000 words (and I really don't like making chapters that exceed 5000 words).B) because I wanted to show you all how cruel and merciless Voldemort is in my story, by having him kill children without thinking twice. C) I wanted to show my readers why Voldemort hasn't done anything since his rebirth, esp. after discussing all those plans in the goblet of fire. D) sorry can't give you this reason, it's a spoiler. And to answer your second question, I just really like that line, that's why I used it. That's it no other reason, I just really liked it.         

The Wizards Duel Announcement

                Harry barely made it to his arithmancy class that day. Although the pain in his leg was already starting to ease up a little, his emotions were still able to slow him down greatly. Throughout the entire time his thoughts were completely focused on his friends and himself. 

                There was no doubt in his mind that things had changed this year. And along with that change came a huge burden as well. He was keeping so many secrets from his friends; telling them so many lies. Even though he already told Hermione part of the truth there was still so much he kept hidden from her. He wished that he could just tell them the truth about everything. He wished that he could be honest about himself. He wished that things could once again be like they were before. Were the circumstances different, Ron and Hermione would be the first people he would talk to. They'd be the first people with whom he would share everything. 

                But he knew that everything wasn't the same this year. And because of that, he couldn't share anything with his friends. Not this year. Not about this. And on that very night he would have to tell Sirius the exact same things as he told his friends: lies. He would have to lie to his godfather; to his father's best friend; to the man who actually wanted Harry to live with him, and have a better life.

                Once he actually got to his arithmancy class, he had wished that he were still wandering the halls. Professor Vector, an old and stern looking witch who always wore a violet robe and a scowl on her face, did not take it easy on Harry just because he was new to the course. 

                When the class started she took roll call just like every other teacher in the school, and when she got to Harry's name she stopped for a second and gave Harry a very sharp look. "Since when are you in this class?" she questioned him.

                "Uh, since this year?" Harry said. He knew that it wasn't exactly the smartest thing in the world to say, but it was very hard for him to concentrate at that exact moment. Aside from dealing with his conflicting emotions, he was very nervous about the class itself. 

                Professor Vector looked at him for a second, and then she looked back at the parchment that had all of the names on and continued with the roll call. 

                Harry always knew that the class would be hard, but it was only once the class actually started that he realized that it was going to be complete torture. 

                First professor Vector wrote an extremely complicated formula on the board, and told all her students to define it. Harry, who had only a very small idea of what the class was about tried his best to define it, but found out that he was truly lacking in a lot, for almost none of his numbers matched the numbers that professor Vector wrote on the blackboard afterwards. 

                Then professor Vector told them to use the formula to compose a chart of equations using several different numbers that she had put on the board. And to make matters worse, she said that she would collect the parchments in the middle of class and grade them-in order to make sure her students haven't forgotten anything over the summer. Harry struggled to write the correct answers, and the fact that he saw that most of the other students (especially Olivea) seemed to be having a very easy time doing the problems, only made it more difficult for Harry to concentrate on his own work.

                After about half of the lesson was finished professor Vector told all of her students to hand in their parchments, and take out their arithmancy book and start reading their next chapter. It was obvious that she planned on grading the parchments right then and there. Harry handed in his parchment last, and hoped that she wouldn't have enough time in the class to grade it. However time didn't matter, since he saw that she took his parchment out first and started working on it. Harry noticed that she was writing a lot of notes on his parchment, and he felt that the class was not going to end well for him. He was of course right. When she handed all the parchments back, he saw a note that read: "see me after class", among all of the corrections that she made. 

                "You have a lot of work to do if you want to catch up to the rest of the class," was the first thing she said to him when he walked up to her.

                "I know," he started. "Professor McGonagall assigned Hermione to help me catch up in this class."

                Professor Vector raised one of her eyebrows when she heard Harry say this. "Well I guess if anyone can do it, Miss Granger can. She was one the best students, when she was in the intermediate class, and she's on her way in the advanced class as well."

                Harry nodded, and rolled his eyes a bit. He had obviously heard this before.

                "Anyway," professor Vector said, getting back to the subject. "I know you're new to all of this, however I'm afraid I cannot give you any special treatment." Then she handed Harry a parchment filled with charts, graphs, and formulas. "I wanted all of the answers by Monday."

                Harry nodded, took the parchment and left. All in all, this had not been a good day so far. 'At least I have care of magical creatures to look forward to now,' He thought to himself as he slowly limped towards the exit of the castle. 'Even if it is with the Slytherins, at least I get to see Hagrid.'

                Care of magical creatures had definitely been more fun than arithmancy that day. At first Hagrid came in with four small crates, placed them down by his side, smiled at all of the students in there and started the class. 

                "I know that las' time things didn' go so well with our little project," he started. A few students started to get worried looks on their faces when he said this. Last year Hagrid had crossbred a new species of monsters called Blast-Ended Skrewts. These monsters looked like lobsters except they were silvery in color, and had stingers, and leeches to suck blood. And the worst thing about them was that they would explode from their backs and burn the students. All in all this was not an experience that any of the students wanted to go through again.

                "However," Hagrid continued. "This year yeh all know more abou' them, and I trust that this year yeh all will succeed in raisin' 'em." A few of the students turned white, while a few others started to groan. "Tha's righ', Blast-Ended Skrewts!" The entire class groaned when he said this.

                "I'm just' kiddin," Hagrid quicky said with a chuckle. Those made some of the student's cheer, while it made most of them wipe their brow. "Today yeh all are goin' ter learn about billywigs."

                Hagrid opened up one of the crates and took out one of the billywig to present to the entire class. Some students were impressed; others were trembling with fear at the sight of the large stinger on the billywig's end. Most students however, were so glad that they weren't going to learn about Blast-Ended Skrewts that they just ignored the stinger.

                Most of the lesson went by pretty smoothly. Hagrid explained all of the features of a billywig, from its wing-like arms, to its stinger. He explained that the billywigs' wings are too short for it to fly like a bird, so it has to spin its body really fast in order to become airborne. "Luckily, the billywig's body is perfect for spinning 'round and 'round," he was saying. "An its stinger here, has the power to make anyone it stings levita' for a certain amount of time." The entire class "ooh'd" and "ahh'd", when Hagrid told them this.

                By the middle of the class, Hagrid had divided the class into four groups, one group per billywig. "Now," he was saying. "I know this will sound a bit harsh, but I wan' yeh ter let the billywig sting yeh." The entire class (except Harry, Ron, and Hermione) started giving Hagrid dirty looks. "Trus' me. Many great wizards catch these lil buggers jus' ter let 'em sting 'em." The entire class looked confused that moment. "A lot of people says that they likes the feeling of levita'ing. And trus' me, yeh all will like it too. Don' worry, I have the antidote for the sting. I promise that yeh will all be on the ground once this lesson is done."

                So all of the groups reluctantly went up to Hagrid and collected a billywig.

                When Harry's group came up to him, Hagrid called Harry out of the group to speak with him in private. 

"So how are yeh doing?" Hagrid asked, looking very concerned.

                'I have to lie again,' thought Harry. 

                "I'm doing great," Harry answered, trying not to sound too obvious.

                "I heard that today was yer firs' arithmancy class, how did that go?"

                'I guess there's no need to lie about that.'

                "It didn't go so good actually."

                "Well, wha' did yeh expect, the class is ahead of yeh."

                Harry sighed a little when he heard this.

                "But don't yeh go givin up," Hagrid said sternly. "I remember yer parents. And I tell yeh, that they wouldn' have given up."

                "I never said I was giving up. I'm just going to have to try my best," Harry said, with determination in his voice.

                "That's good, that's the spirit Harry." 

Hagrid fixed his black beetle eyes closer to Harry's as if he was probing him, and slowly said, "Is there anything going on that yeh'd like ter tell me?"

                Harry just shook his head and said, "no."

                "I've been meaning ter talk ter yeh about what happened that day when yeh and I firs' caught them billywigs. I was goin' talk talk ter yeh then, but as yeh remember, we had a bit of trouble then."

                Harry swallowed.

                "As yeh know, unicorns don' jus' walk up ter people and stare at them. And for some reason yeh and him were staring at each other for a while there."

                Harry just nodded.

                "What was goin on there?"

                Harry knew that he couldn't tell him about the unicorn's gift, nor could he tell them about Memoritia. He tried to think of something to tell Hagrid, but it was very hard. Hagrid's eyes were looking straight into his, completely distracting him from his thoughts.

                "Well, er, you see I…"

                But before he could come up with an answer, both of them heard a scream. They looked back and saw Neville flying out of control. Both of them ran to the sight as quick as possible, which was difficult for Harry because of his leg. When they got there it was too late. Neville was too high up to reach normally. 

                "Oh, no," Hagrid gasped. "This all my fault, I shouldn' have left the students all alone, 'specially Longbottom!"

                Neville was floating higher and higher with every second. "Hold on boy!" Hagrid yelled to Neville, who by now was so frightened that he closed his eyes. 

                "Hermione," Ron said looking at her. "Do you know any spells that could get him down?"

                Hermione just shook her head. "I can't use the levitating charm on him because the billywig's sting is more powerful, and I can't think of any spells to use that won't hurt him."

                "Oh, great," Ron groaned. "Now what are we going to do?"

                "Move over Weasley," A cold voice sneered from behind Hagrid and the trio. They turned around and saw Malfoy. "Let a real wizard show you how it's done!" He pushed Ron out of the way, took out his wand, pointed it at a Billywig and said, "Racco", and then he pointed up in the air at Neville and yelled out, "Swasso!" Immediately both Neville and the billywig switched places. The billywig was high in the air, and Neville was floating right next to them.

                "Grab him!" Malfoy commanded. 

                Hagrid immediately started running towards Neville, and this time he was able to grab him before he flew too high up. "Alrigh'!" Hagrid yelled. "I believe that's enough!" Some of the students groaned when they heard this. Most of them were having fun floating around, even if they couldn't control it.

                "Come to my cabin and I'll give yeh all the antidote," with that he walked off towards his cabin dragging Neville behind him. As soon as he got there he took the antidote and gave it to Neville. Then one by one, the students who let the billywigs sting them hovered up to Hagrid (most had to be dragged by students who didn't get stung), and took the antidote from him.

                Afterwards, when Hagrid turned to thank Malfoy, he saw that he wasn't there anymore. "Where'd he run off ter?" Hagrid asked the trio.

                They all looked at each other, and turned to Hagrid and shook their heads, signifying that they didn't have a clue as to where Malfoy might be. Normally, if Malfoy did anything that deserved recognition, he would stay and wait for praise for what he did, but for some reason, this time he didn't.

                "Why do you guys think Malfoy left like that all of a sudden?" Ron asked, as he Harry, and Hermione headed back to the castle for their next class. 

                Hermione just shook her head. She then opened her mouth to say something, but was immediately interrupted by Harry.

                "He didn't care about Neville, or Hagrid," Harry said in a low voice, which caused both Ron and Hermione to turn their attention to Harry. "The reason he saved Neville was to show us his power. To scare us," Harry paused for a moment. "Especially me."

                "Why would he want to do that?" Ron said, looking a bit confused. "I mean, I remember him threatening us on the train about the wizards duel, and all, but why would he want to intimidate you if you're not even entering?"

                Harry just shook his head and said, "I don't know."

                "He has been acting very weird lately," Hermione interjected, causing Harry and Ron to turn their attention to her. "I think we'll be in for a lot of surprises from him this year." She turned to Harry and said, "He seems to be very concentrated with you this year. Be careful around him!"

                Harry nodded.

                "Don't forget, his father is a death eater, who happens to be in you-know-who's inner circle."

                "Don't worry," Harry assured. "I'll be careful around him."

                Hermione just smiled, and turned her attention back to their classes. "Do you guys know who our defense against the dark arts teacher is this year?" She asked.

                "I already told you that I don't," Ron said.

                "Its your friend," Harry said.

                Ron just turned to him completely confused. "What do you mean 'my friend'?" 

                "Form last year," Harry said nonchalantly.

                "Wait," Hermione interrupted. "You don't mean it's?"

                Harry just nodded.

                "Oh, no," Hermione groaned. "How did she ever get a job teaching here?"

                "Who are you guys talking about?" Ron asked.

                His answer came to him before either Harry or Hermione opened their mouths to tell him. 

                "Harry!" A very familiar voice yelled from behind them. Whomever the voice belonged to obviously had a French accent. Ron quickly turned around and saw that it was Fluer Delacour from the previous year. His jaw dropped, as he looked back at Harry and Hermione, who both just nodded. Fluer had not changed at all from the previous year. She still had her silvery blond hair, her hypnotizing blue eyes, and her adorable smile.

                "How have you been doing?" Fluer asked as she came closer to the trio.

                "Good," Harry responded. "What about you?"

                "I've been doing fine too. As you can see I haf this new job here."

                "Your English seems to have improved a bit."

                "I have spent a lot of time practicing it. I mostly concentrated on the _h_'s and _t_'s. Madame Maxime, and professor Dumbledore said that was the part that needs the most work. Although I still haf a bit of trouble with my accent."

                "It's perfect!" Ron said ecstatically. "It's wonderful, it's beautiful, it's…"

                "It's okay," Hermione interrupted, giving both Harry and Ron dirty looks. "But I think we should get to class, so we could have good seats." She turned to Fluer and gave her a fake smile. "We'll see you in class." She turned around and left, with Harry and Ron following her (Ron giving Fluer one last look).

                Much to Ron's disappointment, Hermione forced both him and Harry to sit in the back row with her.

                As soon as Fluer walked into the class, every single male student, except Harry, stopped talking and started gawking at her. None of girls in the class looked pleased to see her though.

                  "Hello students," Fluer said, as she curtsied politely. "My name is Fluer Delacour, and I will be your new defense against the dark arts teacher this year."

                Immediately, all the boys in the class (except Harry) started clapping and cheering, while all the girls in the class started groaning.

                "Now I would like to get to know each and every one you personally," all the boys (except Harry) just melted, while the girls rolled their eyes. "So I shall start with the roll call." She took out a piece of parchment and started to read off all the names on it. Whenever she called on a boy, he would give an enthusiastic response while most of the girls just gave a cold, bitter response. When she called on Harry and Ron she waived to both of them-Ron almost melted; when she called Hermione's name, she got it completely wrong and caused some of the students to laugh a bit.

            "Now, I know that some of you may think that I am a little too young to be teaching a class," She said a little nervously, while taking out her wand. "But I can assure you that I am more than capable of teaching you all you need to defend yourselfs against all sorts of dark powers. After all I was a school champion in the triwizards tournament, so you can assume that I know a few things about the dark arts." At this statement, almost all the eyes in the room turned towards Harry. Harry ducked his head behind his hands a little.

                "Now I have seen that you haf learned how to defend yourselfs against all sorts of monsters, and you haf learned many counter curses for many curses. However, you haf not yet learned how to actually block unfriendly spells." She took out a book called: _The Dark Arts, A Guide to self Defense_ advances level and put it on her desk. "All of these curses you see in this book, as well as all the counter curses you see are completely useless if you get hit by a curse like the full body bind, or the stunning spell. That is why you must learn how to stop these spells from actually hitting you. Because once they do, all the knowledge in the world wont help you."

                She picked up the parchment that she used for roll call and said, "I would like one volunteer from the class." She looked down at the parchment. "How about _Hermeeohneh Grangher_."

                A few of the students began to snicker as Hermione stood up and walked down towards Fluer. "It is pronounced _Her-Mai-Oh-Nee_ and the second 'g' in my last name is pronounced like a 'j', _Grain-Jer_" Hermione said hotly.

                "Oh, please forgive," Fluer said apologetically. "My English is still not so good."

                Hermione just rolled her eyes and said it was ok.

                "Now Hermione, when I tell you to, I would like you to cast a light curse on me. Is that alright with you?"

                Hermione nodded.

                "Now I will show you all the simplest and weakest way to defend yourself against unfriendly spells." She turned to Hermione and said, "anytime you are ready!"

                Hermione raised her wand aimed it at Fluer and yelled out, "_Locomotor Mortis!_"

                Fluer quickly raised her wand and yelled, "_Reflecto!_" And immediately an invisible wall appeared around her, which easily blocked Hermione's leg locker curse.

                "Do you see class?" Fluer said, as she turned back towards the rest of the students. "Her leg locker curse could not get through my wall." 

                She turned back to Hermione and said, "Now I would like you to try a more powerful curse."

                Hermione pointed her wand towards Fluer and yelled, "_Stupefy!_"

                "_Protecto!_" Immediately a light blue circular shield the length of Fluer's body, and around three times its width appeared in front of her and blocked Hermione's spell. 

                "That was very impressive Hermione!" Fluer exclaimed. "I am very impressed about how you learned to do the stunning spell so early. Five points to Gryffindor. Now you may take your seat." Hermione headed back up towards Harry and Ron feeling self-satisfied.

                "Do not worry if you do not know how to use the stunning spell," Fluer added to the rest of class. "I will teach it to you later this year.

                "Now getting back to protection. As you saw, Hermione used the stunning spell on me. If I were to use the 'reflecto' charm to protect myself, then chances are, that her spell would break through my wall. So I was forced to block it using a more powerful spell called the 'protecto' spell. This spell puts a more powerful wall in front of you, which protects you from many more powerful spells and curses. That is the reason why you all were actually able to see the wall when I used the protecto spell, but you couldn't when I used the reflecto spell. Because the protecto uses more magical energy than the reflecto, therefore it gives off more magical energy as well. This spell will protect you from almost all usual magical spells and curses. However it will not protect you from spells that haf a lot of power behind them."

                A few of the students started looking confused at this point.

                "Well for example, if I were to use a spell you, and if professor Dumbledore used the exact same spell you, you would haf a much harder time protecting yourselfs against his spell than you would haf mine, because his spell has so much more power backing it up. So you must not always rely on these protecting spells. You should still practice dodging curses as well.

                "You must learn when it is beneficial to dodge, and when it is beneficial to block. Especially those of you who are planning on entering the school wide wizards duel."

                Fluer walked around her desk and sat behind it and faced the class one more time. She picked up her book turned to a certain page and addressed the class once more. "Now I do not expect many of you to master these spells right away. They require a lot of concentration to actually perform and even more to actually withstand an attack.

                "But do not worry, we haf some time before the wizards duel starts. I'm sure that by that time all of you will master the reflecto spell at least. 

                "Now open your books to page four hundred and twenty seven, and start reading up on these spells. I want you all to make a chart containing the types of magical levels each defense spell will protect you against. And for all those of you who want extra credit, I want you to describe a way to use protection spells as an offence. All this due Monday."

                All the boys immediately took out their books and started reading, while most of the girls just took their time.

                That night at dinner all the students noticed a cauldron sitting on a stool in front of the teachers table. Everyone wondered what it was going to be used for but almost no one had a clue. 

                As soon as everyone was seated professor Dumbledore stood up in front of everyone, waived his hands around asking for quiet, and as soon as all the students quieted down, Dumbledore began making his speech.

                "I suppose all of you are wondering what a cauldron is doing standing in the middle of the dining hall.

                A few students murmured something like "yes".

                "Well, this cauldron is going to used in the wizards duel."

                Immediately the whole room burst with whispering.

                Dumbledore once again had to wait for the students to calm down before continuing. "All students fourth year and above will have, from after dinner till tomorrow night to deposit their names in the cauldron. At dinner tomorrow night, the details of the duel will be explained more clearly."

                A few of the students grumbled about the fact that Dumbledore was not going to tell them about the duel right then and there, but most of the students were so excited about entering, that they didn't really care.

                "Two more things before we start," Dumbledore continued once the hall quieted down again. "Unlike last year, being in the tournament is not mandatory, so I must warn all those that are below the fourth year. If you enter your names inside the cauldron, we will just end up throwing them away, and you will end up getting in trouble.

                "The second thing that I would like to announce is that because the teachers will be so busy with the duel, quidditch matches will be on a different, more accelerated schedule this year. So if anyone wants to play for his or her house team, I suggest that you talk to madam Hooch as soon as possible. Because the quidditch tryouts will be much quicker this year than before.

                "Well, I believe that I have said all I had to say, let's begin the meal." As soon as Dumbledore sat down, the food appeared on all the plates, and all the students starting eating.

                This dinner was without a doubt one of the most talkative ones that Hogwarts ever had. The only topic that people were talking about at dinner was the wizard's duel. 

                Everyone was asking each other if they would enter, what kind of chances they believed they would have in the duel. And most of all, what the duel would actually be like. That night was obviously very enjoyable for everyone. 

                After dinner was over, everyone raced back to their common rooms in order to get a piece of parchment to write their names on and place in the cauldron. Even Ron and Hermione were racing back to their common rooms with the others.

                The only person who didn't make too much of a deal about the duel was Harry. He just ate quietly, the entire dinner listening intently as everyone around him was discussing the duel. And after dinner was over, he quietly limped back to his room. He obviously still had other issues on his mind.

A/n-Sorry if this chapter wasn't very good, I was sick when I wrote it (the virus came back). Anyway please R/r.


	18. The Rules Of The Game

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. 

Chris: If you're still reading, give me your E-mail address, and then I'll be able to answer your questions more clearly, without putting spoilers out for everyone else.

                                                                The Rules

                After Harry and the rest of the Gryffindors were finished with astronomy. Most of them hurried down to the great hall in order to drop their names into the cauldron. While everyone was busy running down to the dining hall in order to enter the school wide wizard's duel, Harry was calmly heading towards the owlry, where he planned on writing Sirius his response.

"Hey Harry!" A voice called out.

Harry looked back and saw a first year Slytherin running towards him.

                The first year stopped as soon as he caught up and tried to catch his breath.

                "Who are you?" Harry said, giving the first year a suspicious look. Every since his first year, Harry had a severe mistrust of all Slytherins, and this included first years.

                "My…name…is…Jason Adams," The boy said between pants. 

                "You shouldn't be here at this time," Harry said a little harshly. "Why aren't you in your common room?"

                "Uh…well…you're here too aren't you?" Jason came back.

                "I'm a prefect, I'm allowed. You are a first year student, you could've gotten lost coming here all alone."

                "Sorry," Jason said, lowering his head a little. "It's just that I really wanted to meet you. I've read all about how you defeated…"

                "What do you want?" Harry interrupted, already getting a little annoyed. 

 "Well, uh, you see," Jason started stuttering. He put his hands behind his back and quickly said, "Can I have your autograph?"

                Harry looked a little surprised when he heard this. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped a little. 'Since when do Slytherins want my autograph? It's got to be some kind of trick.'

                "Sorry Jason," Harry said. "I really don't give out autographs. Now you better head back to your common room before I have to report you."

                Harry turned around to leave, but was stopped once again when Jason grabbed onto his arm. 

"Please," Jason whined. "I really, really need it."

Harry just sighed and rolled his eyes. He faced Jason and was about to tell him off, but was stopped when Jason said, "It's for my sick little sister."

"What?" Harry said, sounding surprised.

"It's for my sister," Jason repeated. "She's very sick, and she's always been a very big fan of yours. She's worshipped you since the day she heard about you."

Harry didn't say anything; he just looked down at Jason sympathetically. 

"She said that before she died, what she wanted more than anything in the world is to meet you," by now Jason had tears forming in his eyes. "And I just thought that this is the closest thing I could give her now."

Harry still said nothing. In his mind he was still debating whether or not he should trust this boy. He seemed really sincere, but nevertheless he was still a Slytherin. He could've had some kind of ulterior motive for this. 

"She has a terminal disease that can't be cured by wizard or muggle medicine. I just want to do my best to make her last moments of life happy."

Harry still didn't say anything; all he did was nod his head.

"Really!" Jason shouted. "Thank you so much!" Harry could tell that he really made this boys day. His face shined like it would if Christmas had come early.

                Jason quickly dug into his bag and took out a piece of parchment, and a quill with some ink, and handed it to Harry.

Harry took the quill and parchment and asked, "What's your sister's name?"

"Connie," Jason answered, almost too enthusiastically.

"To Connie," Harry spoke as he wrote the words on the parchment. "Hope you get better, your best friend…" Then he moved the quill down to the bottom of the page and signed, "Harry Potter."

"There you go," He said, as he handed it back to Jason. "I really hope your sister gets better."

"What?" Jason said, as he looked up at Harry a little curiously. "Oh right!" He exclaimed, while slapping himself on the forehead. 

Once again Harry started looking at him suspiciously.

"Sorry," Jason said looking a little embarrassed. "I was just so happy that I forgot. Thank you very much, I'll be sure to tell her how nice and generous you are."

Harry still a little suspicious, turned on his heel and started to head off to the owlry once again, when-

"Harry!" Jason called.

Harry once again turned around, just as annoyed. "What Jason?"

"Can I have an autograph for my other sister?"

Harry just sighed and said, "What's her name?"

Jason stood there for a second not saying anything.

"Well," Harry growled, getting a little impatient. "What's her name?"

"Jason," Jason said looking a little red.

"Go back to your common room Jason, before I report you!" Harry said a little too harshly.

"Okay, I'm sorry," Jason lowered his head, picked it up, turned around and starting running back to his common room. "See you later!" He called while he was running.

"The last thing I need is a Slytherin version of Colin Creevey," Harry said to himself as he turned around and started walking towards the owlry.

'Let's see, what should I write?' Harry thought to himself. He was sitting in the owlry, with no one but Hedwig there to keep him company. "I can't tell Sirius about the book, or the unicorn, or memoritia, or my mysterious injuries." Harry grunted. Harry really hated when he had to lie to his godfather. Even if it was imperative that he did, he still felt really bad about it. He felt as if Sirius was watching and frowning down on him at the same time. He only had to lie to Sirius once before in order to try and keep him safe, and it had still been very hard for him then.

"I have to write something," Harry sighed, as he looked down at the blank parchment he was holding. "Here goes."

_Dear Sirius,_

_                I got here just fine._

_                So far all of my classes (except potions) have been great. Professor Trelawny came through and predicted my death once again, so that means I'm going to be just fine._

                This year Professor Dumbledore decided to have a school wide wizard's duel in the school where all students above fourth year can enter. Personally I think this is an attempt to prepare us for Voldemort.

                Harry leaned back and thought about what else he should write about. 'He wrote me to tell me to be careful with Malfoy in his last letter, maybe I should respond to that?' Once again he leaned forward and continued writing.

                _In your last letter, you told me to look out for Malfoy. Ron and Hermione are thinking the same thing. Ever since Malfoy came back he seemed to be acting very weird. Today he even did something nice for Neville and Hagrid, although I assume he only did it to intimidate me. Anyway I promise I'll keep an eye on him and the rest of the Slytherins._

_                Professor Dumbledore is also thinking on the same lines as you because he also asked me to talk to him if I feel anything._

_                Well that's about it for now. Owl me with any new developments._

_                                                                                                                                Sincerely_

_                                                                                                                                Harry_

                PS: Be careful around those death eaters.                 Harry stood, rolled up the parchment and tied it to Hedwig's leg. "Find Sirius," Harry said. "And be careful. Flying is a lot more dangerous now-a-days."                 Hedwig gave Harry an appreciative hoot, and took off.  

            Harry slowly headed back to Gryffindor tower. The whole time his mind was on Sirius. He was really scared for him, being on the run from the ministry, and hiding out with death eaters. If either side caught him they'd expose to a torture worse than death.

                "Lionheart," he muttered as he approached the fat lady. As soon as he climbed into Gryffindor tower, he saw that the whole common room was packed with people talking to each other about the wizard's duel. 

                Harry looked round and saw Ron, Hermione, and Olivea were sitting near the fire with one empty seat next to them.

                Harry started to walk to them when he was stopped by a very annoying voice. "Hiya Harry!" The voice called.

                Harry already knew by the enthusiasm in the person's tone that this voice belonged to none other than Colin Creevey. Harry slowly turned to the originator of the voice and found himself to be right.

                "Guess what Harry?" Colin said, very enthusiastically.

                'You finally got that lobotomy?' Harry thought to himself.

                Harry twisted his face in to a fake smile and said, "What Colin?"

                "I have just entered the wizard's duel," he said proudly.

                'That's it?' Harry thought moodily to himself, as he stared at Colin. 'That's what you came here to bother me about?'

                "That's great Colin," Harry said. "I really hope you win." He then turned and tried to sidestep Colin, and head towards his friends, when Colin also sidestepped into the same direction once again blocking him.

                "Yeah," Colin continued rambling. "All students in the fourth year and above are allowed to enter, so I decided to enter this year."

                "That's great Colin," Harry said with dismissal in his voice.

                Colin obviously didn't get it because he continued talking. "I'm going to show all those Slytherins that just because I'm muggle born doesn't mean I can't beat them."

                Harry just nodded and tried to side step again, when again he was blocked. 

                "Wouldn't it be great if you and I get to face each other in the duel?" Colin continued just as enthusiastic as when he started.

                "That would be wonderful Colin, but now I really must get to-"

                 "Of course I probably wont be a match for you Harry," Colin continued, while interrupting Harry. "I mean, you're probably the best wizard in school!"

                Harry just tried once again to sidestep him, but once again he failed.

                "I mean you even won that tournament last year, and you had to face off against people in their seventh year of school. That was really amazing. By the way, are you okay, you look like you haven't been sleeping much lately?"

                "Say Colin," Harry said lightly. He had obviously just thought of a way to get rid of Colin for a while. "Do you see that girl over there?" Harry pointed to some random girl. 

                Colin looked and said, "yeah?"

                "Well, I hear that she really likes you, but is always too afraid to talk to you."

                "R-really," Colin stuttered, turning a little red.

                "Yeah," Harry said, with a hint of sarcasm. Obviously Colin didn't catch it because he was still staring at the girl. "Why don't you go over there and talk to her?" Harry gleamed.

                "Oh, are you sure?" Colin lowered his blushing face so as no one could see it.

                "I'm positive," Harry said putting his hand on his heart. "I think you two will make a great couple."

                "Well, okay then, if you're sure." Colin slowly turned around and started walking towards the girl Harry was pointing at.

                'Well that got rid of him,' Harry thought to himself, feeling a little relieved. 'The last thing I need is two of them in one night.'

                He headed over to where his friends were sitting and sat down in the empty chair next to them. "So, did you guys enter?" he asked.

                They all nodded and said "yes."

                "I hope one of you wins," Harry said honestly.

                "Well, I just hope that I at least get into the top four," Hermione spoke up. "That way I could get that O.W.L. That's the only thing I really want."

                "You would," Ron muttered.

                "Are you sure you're not going to enter Harry?" Olivea asked.

                "Positive," Harry said. "I've had enough tournaments to last me a lifetime. Plus I really don't need anymore work this year."

                "Speaking of work," Hermione said. "Our first arithmancy tutorial will be this weekend, so get ready."

                Harry nodded, while Ron just scoffed. 

                "Why are you taking arithmancy Harry? It's bad enough they made you a prefect."

                "Ron," Hermione started with impatience in her voice. "Don't start with that again."

                "Fine," Ron grumbled.

                "Do you guys know what the tournament will be like?" Olivea asked trying to change the subject.

                "I spoke to professor McGonagall right after I entered my name," Hermione said. "She told me that it would not be like a conventional duel. There will be all sorts of new rules. She said that most of us would enjoy it."

                "What do you think she means by that?" Ron asked.

                "She said to wait until tomorrow night to find out the rules.

                "Well," Hermione said as she stood up and yawned. "I'm going to bed early, good night."

                "Yeah me too," Olivea said. "We have potions tomorrow morning and I want to get there early; I can't wait!"

                Ron and Harry just rolled their eyes as the two girls headed off to the girls' dormitory.

                "You know we should get to bed too," Ron said as he got up. He turned to Harry and said, "It looks like you haven't been getting much sleep lately."

                "I'm fine," Harry said shortly. "You go on, I'll be there soon."

                "Good night," Ron said as he headed off to the boys' dormitory.

                "Good night," Harry said, and then he turned to the fire and started staring inside it.

                "Everyone thinks that this is just a game," Harry said to himself, in almost a whisper. "Am I the only one who sees this tournament for what it really is?" Harry just sighed and lowered his head. "Has everyone already forgotten that Voldemort is back. Has everyone forgotten the announcement that Dumbledore made last year after…"

                Harry sighed again and quickly shook his head to try and get last year out of mind. "They heard the stories, they read the books, but none of the students here know how horrible he truly is. They're afraid to say his name, yet the fact that he once again walks among us doesn't even phase them."

                Harry once again looked into the fire. "I wonder what Dumbledore is doing to try and stop him?"

                Harry was the last one to leave the common room that night. He spent most of his time staring at the fire, and thinking about everything that happened to him so far. It was one of those times when Harry really wished he'd had a pensieve of his own. All those thoughts at once, were becoming unbearable.

                In fact it was so unbearable that Harry hardly had any sleep that night. And when he did manage to actually fall asleep he dreamed of Malfoy facing him in a wizard's duel. At first everything was going fine, but then Malfoy transformed into Voldemort, and shot a huge beam of green light directly at him. Harry quickly woke up in a cold sweat right after that happened.

                Harry couldn't sleep for the rest of the night. Every time he closed his eyes he once again saw Voldemort, staring down at him with murder in his eyes. 'Was that how he appeared to everyone he killed?' Harry wondered every single time he closed his eyes. 'Did he have that same look when he killed my parents? And when he tried to kill me the first time?'

                The next day, Harry's potions class seemed to become worse for him than ever. Snape was feeling more vindictive than ever, since professor McGonagall made him look inferior in front of all the Gryffindors and Slytherins.

                He started with roll call, and when he reached Harry's name, he ordered him to come sit right in front of his desk. 

                As soon as Harry sat down in front of Snape's desk, Snape slammed down a bottle of yellow looking liquid in front of him. "Drink it!" He commanded.

                "What will it do?" Harry asked.

                "It will make looking at you more bearable, now drink!"

                Harry quickly downed the liquid, ignoring the extremely bitter taste. As soon as he was finished, he felt his face tighten up a bit. He felt under his eyes and noticed that his bags were gone.

                "Thank you," Harry said in a low voice.

                "I didn't do it for you," Snape growled. "I did so I wouldn't want to throw up every time I look at you.

                "Now!" He shouted to the whole class. "Can any of you slackers tell me what _Uricilum_ is, and at least three ingredients?"

                Olivea immediately threw her hand up and started waiving it around while the rest of the class just sat still. Even Hermione, who knew the answer sat still, because she knew that there was no way Snape would call on her.

                "Anybody?" Snape snarled.

                Olivea now jumped out of her seat and started waiving even harder. Ron looked at her for a second, rolled his eyes, and muttered, "rookie" under his breath.

                "Okay people," Snape reached over to his table and took hold of a book that was on it. "This," he pointed to the book. "Is a _book_!" He snarled like he was talking to a bunch of idiots. "They open like _this_!" And he opened his book and flashed it in front of everyone. "And these funny little scribbling are called _words_! You usually READ words!" At this statement Olivea waived her hand harder than ever, but Snape still ignored her.

                "POTTER!" he yelled turning his attention to Harry. "It's obvious that you know more than the rest of us, since you're not paying attention to anything I'm saying!"

                "But I am-" Harry was starting to say.

                "Perhaps you can tell us what Uricilum is? And would please inform us of at least three ingredients?"

                "Er…Uricilum is a potion that almost instantaneously re-grows hair. Three of its components are a tail of a lizard, twelve hairs from a rat, and a toenail of a hippogriff."

                Snape just stood there transfixed for a second, then immediately shouted, "Five points…will be deducted from Gryffindor!"

                Immediately every single Gryffindor in the class started protesting this. 

                "If you know the answer, then you raise your hand and wait till I call on you!" Snape snarled to Harry, as well as to the rest of the class.

                "But that's not fair," Olivea called out. She obviously thought that what Snape did was cruel and unjust. "I have been raising my hand forever, and you didn't call on me!"

                "And that's ten more points from Gryffindor for talking, when you're not called on!"

                Olivea was shocked. She was about to say something when Parvati Patil pulled Olivea back in her chair, and shook her head.

                The rest of the lesson became even worse. Snape told the class to make a batch of Uricilum. And the entire time, Snape just stood around Harry and kept commenting on how badly he was doing. The truth was that Harry knew how to make the potion, but he was having a hard time concentrating with Snape breathing down his neck, and criticizing everything he was doing.

                "Can you believe that guy?" Olivea complained as all the Gryffindors headed to their transfiguration class. "I have never met anyone so vindictive!"

                "Believe me, he can get a lot worse," Ron commented.

                "If I had a teacher like that at S.I.T., I would have never picked potions to be my major!"

                "At least it's over for this week," Harry said. "We should at least be thankful that we only have potions twice a week."

                Everyone just nodded their heads in agreement.

                "And at least he helped you out a little Harry," Hermione added, pointing towards Harry's face.

                The rest of Harry's classes seemed to be a lot more easy going than potions. 

                I transfiguration, professor McGonagall had them transfigure a parrot cage into a parrot. Hermione's was actually able to speak fluent English.

They continued doing the switching charm in charms class, and this time Harry was actually able to do it. The only problem was, he was the only one. Everyone else seemed to have a hard time with it still.

                In care of magical creatures they continued learning about billywigs, and a lot more students let themselves get stung.

                The last class they had before dinner was: History of magic, which was as boring as ever. Professor Binns, the ghost teacher, was teaching them about the history of the four Hogwarts founders, which would've normally been fun, but because of professor Binns' drawling, the whole class almost fell asleep. 

                 That dinner, everyone was excited to hear about the wizard's duel. In fact everyone was so excited that they didn't notice dinner go by, nor did they notice that Dumbledore did not attend this dinner. And those that did, didn't really care. The only thing on everybody's mind was the announcement was supposed to be made that night.

                So when professor McGonagall stood up and addressed the room, every single person in the room quieted down.

                "I am glad that so many of you have decided to enter," Professor McGonagall started as soon as everyone was quiet. "This duel will be nothing like the normal duels you would see everyday.

                "First, in the preliminaries, there will be a strict time limit of five minutes per duel. If one person hasn't won by the end of the five minutes, the judges will decide who was superior in the battle and will declare him or her the winner. The preliminaries will be fought in a special battle arena, which was specially made for dueling.

                "Once a student loses twice in the preliminaries, he will be eliminated from the duel. 

                "Out of all of you that entered only sixty-four of you will be chosen to participate in the secondary portion of the duel.

                "The secondary portion of the duel will be fought on four different fields, each field benefiting a certain trait that you may poses. You will all have only one battle on each field. 

                "The first field is: the forest. Professor Rubius Hagrid will fence off a section of the forbidden forest, for the duel to actually take place in. However, that still doesn't mean that you can just walk in there anytime you want. Even that section is forbidden unless you are with a Hogwart's teacher. 

                "The forest will benefit those of you who are swifter and good at stealth."

                A few students gasped, while most of the students' jaws dropped.

                "The second field will be: the water. A part of the lake will be sectioned off for you to have your duel there. Don't worry; there will be stepping stones on which you can stand on. 

"This field will benefit those who have better balance, and those who can swim well, because I can almost guarantee that you will hit the water at least once.

                "The third field is: the ice. Another part of the lake will be sectioned off and frozen, and you will have your duel there. 

"This field will benefit those with balance, coordination, and speed.

                "And finally, probably the toughest field will be: the air."

                Immediately all the students started calling out, asking her what exactly she meant by that.

                "Calm down!" Professor McGonagall yelled. "I will explain it now!"

                After she saw that the whole room had calmed down, she proceeded to explain. "Aerial duels will be fought on school brooms. They will be fought on the quidditch pitch and they will obviously benefit those of you, who are better flyers. Do not worry about falling off your broom and breaking your neck. There will be at least four teachers on the pitch ready to make a magical net for those of you who fall. Falling, means losing though.

                "After wards the four of you who survive the secondary competition will receive an O.W.L. before you duel with each other. The field for the semifinals will be completely random; it could be the arena, forest, water, ice, or air.

                "The winners of the semifinals will face each other in the finals on a field of their choosing.

                "You all have been divided into four divisions, the northern, southern, eastern, and western divisions. You will only face people in your division until the semifinals.

                "For the preliminaries, the rules are: If you get knocked out, surrender, or if the judges decide that you are unsuitable to continue, that will count as a loss. If you lose twice you are disqualified.

                "The secondary events will take place after the winter break. There will be one duel per field per day on certain weekends. There will be no time limit, and the same rules apply there as they do in the preliminaries, except you only need one loss to be eliminated.

                "The semifinals are the same, and so are the finals.

                "You will have to wear your Hogwart's robes, and you will only be allowed to have your wand, except in the aerial duels where we will supply you with brooms."

                Professor McGonagall stopped, looked around and continued. "Your first matches will take place on the twentieth of October, the charts of the preliminaries will be placed in your common rooms tomorrow. That is all." After she finished she headed back to her seat at the teachers table leaving the students to discuss the rest on their own.

                About a minute after professor McGonagall sat down the whole room burst with chattering. Everyone was talking about what McGonagall had said. Most of the students were already coming up with strategies for what they were going to do in the secondary portion of the duel. And talking about which type of field seemed the more interesting, and which seemed the weirdest.

                The only one who wasn't talking was Harry. He was too busy eyeing the Slytherin table. 

                While McGonagall was making her speech, Harry saw Malfoy, giving him a malicious smile, which Harry ignored, until he saw the same smile coming from Jason Adams, the first year that asked Harry for his autograph the previous night. This bothered Harry a little. 

                Was he just acting that way in front of Malfoy? Or was he acting in front of Harry?

                This thought kept him awake for a good portion of the night; that and the fact that no one else in Gryffindor was able to sleep, because of excitement. And because they weren't able to sleep, they wouldn't let Harry sleep.

A/n: I'd like to thank every one of you who reviewed. Please continue reading. 


	19. The Painful Realization

Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter.

A/n- I want to thank everyone that Reviewed, I hope that you continue reading my story.

                                                                Chapter 19

                Harry was able to fall asleep around four o'clock in the morning. By that time, the rest of Gryffindor house had gone to bed, and any thoughts about that little Slytherin boy had left Harry's mind.

                Harry woke up later than usual the next morning. By the time he got out of bed, all of the Gryffindor fifth years had left the dormitory. They were either at breakfast, or in the common room looking at the wizard's duel chart.

                Harry let out a small yawn as he got out of bed and marched his way into the bathroom to start his day. He felt very well rested that morning. It had been the first time since his encounter with Voldemort that he was able to have a good night's sleep. He didn't understand it, but maybe it was the atmosphere; maybe being surrounded by people who cared about him, gave Harry back some of the spirit that he lost when Voldemort came back.

                Harry looked closely into the mirror concentrating mostly on his eyes. They definitely looked better, thanks to the potion that professor Snape had given him the other day. His black bags were gone, and the red cracks surrounding his emerald green irises were gone too. He looked a little closer (which was hard because of his glasses) to try to see if anything had changed inside of his pupils. Sadly nothing had. 

"A potion can only do so much I guess," he said to himself in a low voice. He looked back in the mirror and said, "One day at a time. Soon Dumbledore will put a stop to Voldemort's evil plans, and then when everyone is at peace again, maybe I can once again be the same person I used to be."

"I hope so," the mirror said.

Harry just nodded and continued with his morning routine.

After he was finished he headed down towards the Gryffindor common room to find that almost every single Gryffindor student was down there. Most of them were just relaxing, and talking to each other, while a few of them were packed in a group looking at a piece of parchment that hung on the wall.

'That's probably the schedule for the wizard's duel,' Harry thought to himself.

Harry ignored the sign and started looking around for his friends. When he found Ron, Hermione, and Olivea sitting together around a table, he immediately headed over to them. He was obviously curious about which division they were in, and whom they were going to be up against.

Harry wasn't even halfway there, when he was once again stopped by a very annoying voice. 

"Hiya Harry!"

Harry turned and realized that it was Colin Creevy once again, standing in front of him and blocking his way. "Hello Colin," he said quickly, while trying to wheel around Colin.

"Guess what Harry?" Colin said with enthusiastically.

"What Colin?" Harry sighed exasperatedly. This was the first time he had gotten a good night sleep in months, and Harry really didn't feel like starting the day with Colin or anyone else idolizing him.

"You and I are in the same division!" Colin said ecstatically.

"What?" Harry gave him a quizzical look.

"Isn't it great! Wouldn't it be neat if we got to face each other soon?"

"That would be great," Harry said shortly. He was finally able to wheel around Colin, and started to walk off in a bit of a hurry, before Colin could block him again. "Well I have to go, bye." He called back to Colin.

"Ok see you later Harry," Colin called after him.

'Poor guys finally lost it,' Harry thought to himself, as he headed towards where his friends were sitting. 'This whole Harry Potter obsession has finally driven him over the deep end.'

"Hey guys," Harry said when he arrived, and sat down next to them. "What are you all doing?"

Ron looked up and said, "You look well rested. Of course I'm not surprised. You slept like a log the entire night."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Ron continued. "When I tried to wake you up this morning all you did was mumble some words and then rolled over and continued sleeping. You looked so cute!" Ron ended with a chuckle.

"So what kind of things did I mumble," Harry said, trying to keep the conversation going.

"I don't really know?" Ron stopped for a moment and tried to remember what he heard. "Something like memorichi or something, does that ring a bell?"

Harry eyes immediately widened and his skin grew a little paler. 'He means Memoritia,' he thought to himself. 'I can't let them know about that yet. Looks like I'm going to have to try and be more careful.' He noticed that Hermione was giving him a weird look, so he quickly decided to change the subject.

"So what were you guys doing before I came here?" He said, trying desperately to sound casual.

"We were examining the wizard's duel schedule. I used a spell to copy everything from the parchment on the wall to a parchment of my own. That way we could take our time examining it."

"We wanted to go and look at it at breakfast, but you hadn't woken up yet. Good thing it's a weekend, or else we'd have to go to class soon."

"Well you guys didn't have to wait for me, you could've gone by yourselves." Harry said matter of factly.

"Well we wanted to ask you something," Hermione stated.

"Why didn't you tell us that you wanted to enter the wizard's duel?" Olivea asked.

"Is that what you were waiting to ask me?" Harry asked.

All three nodded.

"Well I didn't. I never entered," Harry said giving them all a quizzical look.

"Yes you did," Ron said a little sharply. "Here," he picked up the parchment and flashed it in front of Harry's face. "Your name is right here, next to Neville's," he finished pointing at a spot on the parchment.

Harry immediately grabbed the parchment out of Ron's hands and started examining it closely.

"When Neville found out that he was facing off against you in the first match, he became very upset," Hermione said, while Harry read the parchment.

"Well I think that it's better for him to face off against someone like Harry, instead of a seventh year Slytherin; which by the way, is who I'm facing," Olivea said matter of factly.

After looking at the parchment for about a minute, Harry slowly put it down on the desk. 

"Malfoy," He said. "Malfoy entered my name in the tournament."

"He couldn't have," Ron said, shaking his head.

"Didn't you see the way he looked at me in the great hall the other day. He obviously wants to fight me. Probably wants to finish me off for his master!"

"Harry, don't be silly, you know Dumbledore would never allow that. Besides, I spoke to professor McGonagall the other day. 

"I was also suspicious about the way Malfoy was acting, so I asked her about what would happen if a student entered another student's name in the cauldron, and she said that all the entrees were scanned and those that weren't legitimately entered would get tossed out. 

"So that means the only way that Malfoy could've entered you is if you signed something for him. Did you?"

Harry thought for a moment, and then it came to him. That little Slytherin who asked Harry for his autograph the other day must've done it on Malfoy's orders.

"Darn it!" Harry snapped. "I should've never trusted that kid!"

"What kid?" Ron asked.

Harry immediately told them what happened when he went to send Sirius a reply letter, choosing his words very carefully, so as not to let anything important slip out in front of Olivea. He used the word Snuffles whenever he was referring to his godfather. 

The group waited until Harry was finished before they said anything.

"Why didn't you tell us that snuffles sent you a letter?" Hermione said after he was finished.

"Why the heck did you reckon you could trust a Slytherin?" Ron said about a second after Hermione was finished.

"And who in the world is snuffles?" Olivea asked after Ron was done.

"I wanted to, but things kept getting in the way," He said facing Hermione.

"I thought the same thing myself, but he looked really sincere," he said facing Ron.

"And snuffles is an old friend of ours," he said facing Olivea.

"Was he the one who went you that personal letter you were talking about?" Olivea asked.

Harry shook his head and said, "No that was something else," Obviously trying to give her as little information as possible.

 "So what are you going to do about the wizard's duel?" Hermione asked trying to change the subject to anything else besides Harry's godfather.

"Simple," Harry said as he once again picked up the parchment and started looking at it. "I'm just going to go tell Dumbledore that I quit the tournament. I mean, it's not like I signed my name in blood or anything. I'm sure Neville will be happy."

"Yeah, and I'm sure that Malfoy will be unhappy," Ron added in.

"I think that he'll be unhappy either way," Olivea stated. "Harry's in the western Division, and Malfoy's in the Eastern division with you Ron. They wouldn't be facing off against each other until the finals, that is if they both manage to make their way up there."

"And there's no way that's going to happen," Ron said triumphantly. "Because I'm going to take him out of the duel, before we even get past the preliminaries."

"Just like you did on the train?" Hermione snorted. 

"That was just a fluke." Ron said, ducking his head to hide the crimson in his cheeks.

"What are you talking about, you were on the floor screaming!"

"Malfoy did something to you guys on the train?" Harry snapped, with a hint of worry and anger on his face.

As Hermione went into the details of what happened on the train, Harry noticed that most of the other students were leaving to catch the last few minutes of breakfast.

"We'd better go down and get some breakfast," Harry interrupted Hermione just when she was about to tell him about Goyle and the head-shrinking potion. "You can tell me the rest there."

"And you can talk to Dumbledore there as well," Ron said, as he got up and started stretching a bit.

With that, they all got up and headed down to breakfast.

By the time they entered the great hall it was packed with students. Apparently they weren't the only ones who got held up because of the wizard's duel schedule posting.

"Hey Harry look over at the Slytherin table," Ron gleamed as they all sat down at the Gryffindor table. "From the look on Malfoy's face, you'd think that Christmas has been cancelled or something."

"In Malfoy's case, I don't think that would matter," Olivea pointed out. 

Harry nodded in agreement. Malfoy definitely was not a person who enjoyed festive events, unless they resulted from a tragedy. However Harry did have to agree with Ron as well, Malfoy did look extremely upset.

"It's probably because you and him are in opposite divisions," Hermione stated. "I mean, if after all that work, he didn't even get what he wanted. I guess I'd be upset too."

"Well, looks like I'm only going to have to upset him even more," Harry said. He looked up at the teacher's table trying to find Dumbledore among all the other teachers, only to find that he wasn't there. 

 "That's another meal that Dumbledore has missed," Harry thought out loud.

"Well you can't blame him," Hermione said. "He has a lot on his plate right about now; what with the duel, and you-know-who and all. Why don't you talk with professor McGonagall about it? I'm sure she'll be able to help you out."

Harry nodded and said, "That's a good idea. I'll be back in a second."

Harry got up and headed over to the teachers table.

"Make sure not to take too long," Hermione called after him. "I wanted to start with our first arithmancy tutorial sometime today!"

"Okay," Harry called back.

"What is it Potter?" Professor McGonagall said in her stern voice, before Harry even opened his mouth. 

"Er… well you see, my name has been entered by mistake…again, and-"

"And you want to withdraw from the duel, is that it?" professor Mcgonagall asked.

"Yes professor," Harry quickly answered.

"Professor Dumbledore said he was expecting this," professor McGonagall said.

"Really? But how did he know?" Harry asked. He always believed that Dumbledore more or less knew everything that goes on in Hogwarts, but it was times like these, that Harry got the suspicious feeling that Dumbledore was able to read minds as well.

"He told me to send you to his office when you came to me," professor McGonagall said with a small nod. Clearly she was thinking the exact same thing that Harry was. "The password is 'sherbert grape'. If you want to resign then you'll have to speak with him about it; that is what he told me to tell you."

"Thank you professor," Harry said.

"He is in his office right now so if you wish to speak with him about quitting the duel, now would be the best time, being that it's the weekend and all."

"Yes professor, I'll go immediately." Harry turned around and started to leave, but was stopped by professor McGonagall's voice.

"And Potter!" she called after him.

Harry turned around and said, "yes?"

"I have spoken with Professor Vector," professor McGonagall said in her usual stern voice. "And I tell you this now, I don't want to hear that you are slacking off, do you understand?"

Harry just nodded and headed back to his friends.

"Well what happened?" Hermione asked, as soon as Harry had reached the Gryffindor table. 

"She said that I have to speak with Dumbledore himself about it," Harry responded. "And she said I should go right now."

"I'll wait for you in the common room," Hermione sighed.

"Sorry about this," Harry said in a low voice.

"The only person you should be apologizing to is yourself," Hermione said matter of factly. "You're the one who needs this not me."

"I'll be there as soon as I'm done speaking with Dumbledore."

"See you then," Hermione said.

After saying goodbye to Ron, Hermione, and Olivea, Harry rushed off towards the statue of the gargoyle, gave the password and climbed the spiral staircase. 

'I've been here more times this year, than all my previous years combined,' Harry thought to himself as he approached the door to Dumbledore's office.

As he was about to open the door, Harry heard voices coming from the room. One voice belonged to Dumbledore, while the other belonged to someone Harry hadn't met yet. Harry knew that it would be wrong to listen in, but curiosity got the best of; plus he didn't want to interrupt Dumbledore's conversation.

"So when will you be able to transfer it?" Dumbledore asked.

"We are doing our best Albus," the unfamiliar voice answered. "But even then, it will still be a few weeks. It looks like you'll just have to be more careful with it Albus."

Harry's eyes widened a bit when he heard this. 'Careful with what?' Harry wondered. 'Is Dumbledore keeping something?'

"I'm afraid that's no longer an option," Dumbledore said. "Young Harry Potter claims he's discovered a book of dark arts. I haven't been able to confirm this though.

"So it can mean one of two things. Either, what Harry says is untrue, and I highly doubt that; or that this book came directly from Voldemort himself."

Harry was beginning to feel his insides turning. At this point he wanted to let his presence be known to Dumbledore, but something inside of him held him back. It was as if Harry felt that he deserved to hear this.

"But if that book really belongs to Voldemort," The unfamiliar voice said, clearly not being afraid to say Voldemort's name. "Then that would mean-"

"Yes, Darias. That we may have a spy here at Hogwarts."

'So this persons name is Darias,' Harry thought. 'And whoever he is, he's not afraid to say Voldemort's name. He must be one of the people that Dumbledore was talking about in the previous year. He must have been one of the people, that Dumbledore wanted to gather together.'

"With all due respect Albus," Darias spoke up. "I think it would be best if you kept your eyes on the Slytherins. According to your reports, many of their fathers are in league with Voldemort."

"I have already checked them out," Dumbledore said. "It seems that they are completely clear of any connection with the dark lord."

Harry was completely stupefied when he heard this. He was completely sure that Malfoy had something to do with Voldemort. 'He has to have some kind of connection!' Harry thought frantically. 'He even more or less told me that he did last year on the train! How can Dumbledore think that the Slytherins were clean! Especially after I found that book!'

"Well keep looking Albus, I'm sure you'll find him," Darias said.

"I will be most grateful for your speed Darias," Dumbledore said.

"Albus, I have one more question," Darias said slowly. 

"What is it?"

"Well I'm not going to beat around the bush about this, I'm just going to say it; we're not going to make it are we?"

Harry felt an incredibly cold feeling inside him when he heard this. He moved in even closer to the door in order to hear better. 

For about a minute Harry heard nothing, and then he heard a small sigh come from inside the room; although he couldn't tell whom it was coming from.  

"If this was fourteen years ago, then the answer would have probably been: 'no'. However now we have a new weapon on our side," Dumbledore finally said.

"You don't mean the Potter boy, do you Albus?" Darias asked.

"I do," Dumbledore responded.

As soon as Harry heard this, his knees gave way, and he fell to the floor, on account of shock.

"If you don't mind me asking Albus," Darias continued. "What is so special about him? What makes him different from his father?"

"Not now," Dumbledore said. "It appears we have a visitor waiting for me outside."

Harry heard the sound of Dumbldore's footsteps getting closer to the door.

"Very well Albus, I shall contact you soon."

The door slowly opened, and Harry saw Dumbledore looking down at him.

"Uh, I'm sorry sir, I wanted to talk to about the tournament, and I was…I'm really, really sorry about eavesdropping…and-"

"Harry," Dumbledore frowned down at him. "You know what they say: 'curiosity killed the cat'."

Harry just lowered his head and nodded slowly.

"But," Dumbledore continued, his face contorting into a smile. "'Satisfaction brought him back'."

Harry slowly got up and faced Dumbledore once again.

"Come inside," Dumbledore said, as he turned on his heal and walked back to his desk.

Harry slowly entered expecting to see another man in the room, but strangely he didn't.

"Uh, sir," Harry started. "I heard another voice in here."

Dumbledore nodded. "I was talking to him through this," He pointed towards what looked like a crystal ball that was sitting on his desk. "It's almost the same as talking through a fireplace, but this way it's more private."

"What is it?" Harry asked as he walked in closer to examine it better.

"It's my own magical invention. It isn't out on the market yet, so it has no name. But I can explain how it works." Dumbledore said, as he sat down behind his desk.

Harry sat down and front of it and waited for Dumbledore to continue.

"You see Harry, when a witch or wizard speaks, thinks, or initiates motion of any type, he gives off magical energy. That is why words are used when casting spells. And that is also why you must pronounce every spell correctly. Because every different sound that leaves your mouth carries a different kind of magical energy, as does your thought, and your motion. This magic object picks up on these magical energies and converts them back to original sounds, and motions somewhere else. It can't however pick up magical thoughts, since they are too weak. When two people use this form of communication, they would be able to not only hear each other, but see each other as well."

"That's amazing," Harry said in an exasperated voice.

"Thank you," Dumbledore said with a hint of gleam in his voice. "I don't want a being like Voldemort to use this for his twisted schemes, so that is why I haven't introduced it to the wizarding market yet."

Harry just nodded.

"But I trust that, that is not the reason that you have come to see me today, is it?"

"No sir," Harry responded. Just as Harry was about to tell Dumbledore the reason he came by, Dumbledore once again surprised him.

"You came here because you wish to withdraw from the school wide wizards duel, is that a correct assumption," he said.

Harry nodded, and asked, "How did you know?"

Dumbledore just smiled at him for a second, and then said, "I knew that it was not you who put your name in the cauldron. If my guess is correct, Mr. Malfoy probably put it in. His aversion towards you seems to be much greater than normal. Perhaps he believes that by beating you in a duel, he'll be able to satisfy it."

"I think the same thing," Harry started. "But if you already knew that I never entered, then why did you put my name on the list?"

Dumbledore slowly sighed and said, "Harry, I trust that by now you have already figured out what this duel is really about."

Harry didn't say anything here, he just stayed silent and let Dumbledore continue.

"This duel is only a preparation for the future. For I as well as many others believe that it will all come down to war. And in this war, Hogwarts will be a very big casualty if the students aren't properly trained to defend themselves.

"The Wizards duel is only the beginning, I have many other things planned for the year following this one."

"Sir," Harry said. "Do your really think it will become necessary for the students to become involved with this war?"

"Not only will it be necessary, it will be essential to our victory over the dark lord."

"Is that why you put my name on the list?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore nodded. "I want you to get as much of an experience out of this as everyone else, maybe even more than everyone else."

"Why?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore sighed again. "I trust that you have heard my a great deal of my conversation?"

Harry sheepishly nodded.

"Then you must have heard what I said about you?"

"You said that fourteen years ago we would not have been able to defeat Voldemort. Why? Why am I so important in this war?"

"There are two reasons why you are important to us. The first reason is the reason why Voldemort tried to kill you in the first place, and I'm sorry to say Harry, but I cannot give you that reason yet.

"The second reason however, I will be able to be able to tell you."

Harry just nodded, and waited for Dumbledore to continue.

"Fourteen years ago, after Voldemort met his defeat; I received a message from some old friends in America. They said that they found something that might be connected to Voldemort.

"I immediately set off to America to investigate these findings. And what I found had truly been the last thing that anyone would expect, although we all should have."

"What did you find," Harry asked out of fear, as well as curiosity.

"We found a factory where a few death eaters were manufacturing some very powerful weapons for Voldemort," Dumbledore said slowly.

"What kind of weapons?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore just sighed slowly and continued, "Voldemort has many powers, but these weapons were specifically made for one of those powers. A power that only he possessed, which was extremely underrated I must say. If he were to combine this power with the weapons that his death eaters were manufacturing, then we would not be here talking now. Underestimating this power was a very big mistake on our part, and this time I made sure not to make it again."

"So what kind of weapons were they?" Harry asked again. "And what kind of underrated power did he have that could be combined with these weapons?"

"A power that you now also possess," Dumbledore said.

Harry's eyes immediately widened and his face turned pale white when he heard this. He already knew what Dumbledore was talking about. He opened his mouth to ask what Dumbledore meant by this, hoping that Dumbledore would tell him anything but what he was thinking, but no words came out.

"That's right Harry," Dumbledore said gravely after a moment of silence, sensing that Harry has already figured it out. "The power of parseltongue."

When Harry finally found his voice, he said, "Then that means…"

"Yes," Dumbledore nodded. "The weapons that I am talking about are the basilisks. We found one hundred dead baby basilisks there."

Harry didn't say anything for a while he just sat there, completely alarmed by what he had just heard.

"As you already know, breeding a basilisk isn't very hard; all you need is a chicken egg, a toad, and someone who speaks parseltongue."

Harry still didn't say anything; he just sat there in complete shock, from what he just heard. Everything that he just heard came as a complete surprise to Harry, although he knew that he should've expected something like this.

"A few weeks after Voldemort returned, I received a message saying that there might be another one of these basilisk making plants somewhere in the forests of Brazil.

"I sent three people to investigate this. It turned out, that it was true. There was a plant there."

"What happened there?" Harry said weakly.

"They were able to destroy the plant. They snuck in and planted a few muggle explosives there.

"The explosion was more than enough to destroy the plant and the basilisks that were inside. However, no death eater bodies were retrieved.

"My guess is that, that wasn't the only plant around, I am sure that there are many more, in other countries."

"Is that why I am so important in this war, because I can speak parseltongue?" Harry asked, his voice still weak.

Dumbledore nodded. "However, you can be sure that if you encounter the basilisks, you will also encounter Voldemort himself. And you must be ready for that when that time comes. That is why you must take part in the duel. It will give you some kind of preparation for when that time comes."

"Do you know when it will come?" Harry asked, his voice still broken. "Or if it will come? I mean raising a basilisk takes many years, maybe you can stop them before that happens."

"I do not know if that's the case anymore Harry. Normally it takes years to raise a basilisk, but the death eaters seem to be experimenting with a new type pf aging potion."

"Aging potion?" Harry looked up at Dumbledore quizzically.

"It is not the same as your friends', the Weasley twins tried to use last year. That would not have any effect on something so large and magical."

"Is it even possible to make such a thing?" Harry asked, his voice breaking even more. "A potion to age a Basilisk, I mean?"

"Yes," Dumbledore answered. "I'm afraid it is."

"So you already know how to make it?"

Dumbledore nodded.

"So then it's only a matter of time before he finds out too, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid so," Dumbledore said in a low voice. "Now do you understand why you are so important in this war? Now at least we have some type of hope in defeating the dark lord.

"Imagine what it would be like if we didn't have you. A never-ending army of basilisks, all under the control of one man. We would get wiped out in a few days."

"But if only Voldemort can control the basilisks, then how did the death eaters manage to keep the babies under control?" Harry asked.

"Simple," Dumbledore said. "They used a tape recorder, and recorded Voldemort's voice on it. Baby Basilisks are so dependant, that they probably obeyed the tape recorder without question."

Harry just nodded his head for a moment. "Of course," he said, his voice now more broken than before. "The wonders of modern technology, huh?"

 "Harry," Dumbledore said softly. "I know that this must be very hard to take in all at once-"

"No it isn't," Harry said. "I don't know why I didn't expect this before?"

"Why don't you go back to your dormitory, and rest," Dumbledore suggested.

"Sir, I won't be able to do anything," Harry said quickly. "Voldemort's commands will always overrule mine."

"If you truly believe that Harry," Dumbledore said, looking deeply inside Harry's eyes. "Then that is what will happen."

Harry just stayed silent.

"Harry I know that it might be easier to depend on me or someone else to stop Voldemort, but your must come to the realization that, that is impossible. We all have an important role to play in what is about to happen, and that includes you."

Harry just nodded.

"Harry," Dumbledore said calmly. "If I did not believe in you, then I would not have told you this now."

"Thank you sir," Harry said. "I'll go back to my dormitory now."  

With that Harry stood up and left the office without saying another word.

"I look forward to your progress in the duel," Dumbledore called after him.

After Harry left, Dumbledore sighed and looked back down at his crystal ball. "I trust you heard everything?" Dumbledore said.

"Yes I have," Darias responded. "How did you know that I was still listening?"

"Call it an old man's intuition," Dumbledore said.

"You neglected to tell him that Marcus, Relena, and Janus were killed right after they destroyed the basilisk plant," Darias said. "Why?"

"There is no need to tell him of such things," Dumbledore answered calmly.

"In that case, do you think it was wise to tell him everything that you did, he didn't seem ready for it?"

"He already knew too much, what would you have me do?"

"You could have just modified his memory," Darias suggested.

"I will not do that unless it's absolutely necessary!" Dumbledore said sternly.

"Very well, that is your decision Albus."

"Getting back to the subject," Dumbledore pressed.

"I will have it delivered to Hogwarts as soon as possible, however I am still against the other thing you want to do with it. You don't know the long term consequences; we might only end up making everything worse."

"Darias, I seriously doubt that things can get much worse than they already are," Dumbledore pointed out.

"I must disagree, Albus!" Darias said rather harshly.

"Relax Darias," Dumbledore said calmly. "Clam yourself, we have everything under control."

"Under control!" Darias snapped. "Albus, the ministry still refuses to help us! Our numbers grow smaller, while Voldemort's seem to be infinite! None of us has had any sleep in weeks! Even as we speak you are forced to prepare your students for war! And now you want to embark on something that might end up being the end of us all! Do you call that Control!" By now Darias was yelling at Dumbledore.

"Calm yourself Darias, you know I am right," Dumbledore said, still as calmly as before.

"And how can you be so sure of that!" Darias growled.

"Because I am much more in control of my emotions at this time than you are," Dumbledore answered. "When one makes a decision with a cool head, he doesn't end up regretting that decision later; even if the decision he made turns out to be a bad one."

After about a minute of silence, Darias finally sighed and spoke up. "Thank you for those words of wisdom, Albus," he said.

"You should thank yourself not me," Dumbledore replied. "Remember you were the one who told me that to begin with."

"I'll deliver it to you, and you may then do with it whatever you want," Darias said, finally conceding. "Although, I am still against it." 

"Thank you," Dumbledore replied. "And there is another thing that I would like you to do for me Darias."

"What is it Albus?" Darias asked.

"Once you deliver it to me, I will tell you," Dumbledore answered.

"Very well, I'll see you soon then. Good bye Albus."

"Good bye Dairas."

The entry to the Gryffindor Common room opened up, and Harry quickly climbed through it.

"Finally, what took you so long?" Hermione asked as soon as she saw that he came in. 

"Harry what happened?" Hermione quickly asked as soon as she saw how pale his face was.

"I'll tell you later," Harry said in a low voice. "Right now, I just want to be alone." 

"But what about the arithamncy tutorial?"

"We'll do it later," Harry replied with dismissal in his voice. Without another word, Harry headed towards his dormitory.

"What happened?" Hermione said to herself. She hadn't seen Harry look that way in a long time. "Whatever just happened, it must be really big. 

"Be strong Harry, and remember we're here for you if you need us."


	20. The Challenge

Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter.

A/n- I know, that this chapter is a little long. I really hate making chapters above 5000 words, but I can't postpone any more chapters. I'm really sorry. The next chapter will be up in a day or two.

                                                            Chapter 20

            It was bright and warm outside that day. The sun was shining splendidly over the castle giving off warmth and light to almost every inch of it. It was a beautiful Sunday morning that all the Hogwart's students appreciated given the fact that mornings at Hogwarts were usually very cold, and dark during that time of the year. The Gryffindors were able to appreciate it more than anyone else however, being that almost all of them were outside that day. For today was the day when the Gryffindor Quidditch team had its first tryout in a long time. Many of the Gryffindors were there to try out, but most of them were just there to see the tryouts and who made the team.

            Angelina Johnson, a seventh year chaser, was the new quidditch captain for the Gryffindor team this year. Although she wasn't as dedicated as Wood [their old captain] was, she was still very tough when it came right down to it.

            Right before the real tryouts began, Angelina made all those who were trying out do one hundred push-ups and seventy-five sit-ups. And if she saw that one of the students trying out was slowing down, she'd have him cut from the tryouts immediately. Fred and George thought that she was being a little tough on the students, but decided not to say anything to her. They just assumed that, that was the reason why Wood and McGonagall had decided to make her the Captain this year.

            "Hey Harry," Fred whispered to Harry, completely snapping him out of his trance. 

            It was true that quidditch was the very last thing on Harry's mind that day, even though it was his favorite sport. He had too many other thoughts to worry about at that exact moment. Everything that Dumbledore told him the previous day had stayed in his head all night. Every time Harry closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep he saw Voldemort leading an army of Basilisks and killing all of the students at Hogwarts. It was bad enough before when the only thing that kept Harry up was Voldemort himself, now he had a whole army of unstoppable creatures. Harry had only seen a Basilisk once before in his second year, and his only opinion of it was, that he never wanted to see another one again.

            "Oh sorry," Harry whispered back, while shaking his head free of his current thoughts. "What did you say?"

            "I said," Fred whispered. "That Ron is actually deciding to try out for the team this year."

            "Really?" Harry replied. "What position?"

            "Chaser," George cut in. "Since we're all leaving next year we have to train a few chasers and beaters now, otherwise you'll be the only experienced player next year, not to mention the fact that we need a keeper right now." 

It was true; every single player on the team except Harry was in his or her seventh and final year at Hogwarts. Given normal circumstances, the team would've had plenty of reserves by now, but since the school hosted the Triwizard Tournament in the previous year, the Gryffindor team didn't have a chance to recruit any reserves, not to mention a keeper.

"What's the point of him trying out," Fred said. "He knows he's not gonna make it."

"Take it he does have Weasley blood him," George said. "But he still hasn't got a chance at making the team. What with that thing and all."

"Yeah," Fred said. "I'm surprised that he'd even try, unless he managed to do something about it."

"Did he?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, we haven't played with him all summer," George said.

"But we know he's been practicing," Fred said. "I guess he's probably been working on it. Of course I would too if I had wanted to join the quidditch team."

"Out of curiosity," Harry started. "How did he take it when you guys told him about it?"

Fred and George immediately started giving Harry a strange look.

"What?" Harry said.

"We thought you'd have told him by now," Fred finally spoke up after about a half a minute of silence.

"You did tell him, didn't you Harry?" George asked.

"Well," Harry started, trying to find the right words. "Not exactly."

Immediately two wicked grins started to grow on both of the twins' faces. 

"So if he doesn't know," Fred started.

"Then he's going to be humiliated in front of everyone," George finished.

 "So it's only right-"

"If he goes first."

"Wait," Harry said. "We can't do that to Ron. We should just tell him instead of having him be humiliated in front of all the Gryffindors."

The twins once again started giving Harry a strange look.

"I'm going to go and tell him," Harry stated and started walking away towards the students trying out, when he was stopped by a very angry looking Angelina Johnson.

"What part of no talking don't you understand?" she hissed.

"We're sorry Angelina," Harry said immediately.

"Sorry doesn't cut it," Angelina hissed a little louder. "Drop down and give me fifty, all three of you!" she looked over at Fred and George.

"But I really have to speak to Ron," Harry protested.

"That'll be a hundred for you Harry," Angelina said. "And let that be a lesson to you."

Harry just nodded.

"After you're done, I want you to fly up near the goal posts and wait there. You'll be playing keeper for the chaser tryouts."

"Okay," Harry nodded. "But could you just give Ron a message?"

"Whatever it is I'm sure it can wait until after the tryouts," Angelina stated as if the subject was closed. "Now get started, or you'll be a hundred more during every training session!"

Fred and George started to snicker a bit as soon as Angelina left.

"Don't worry Harry," Fred said, giving Harry his wicked smile.

"Once we're done with our push-ups, we'll be sure to give Ron the message," George said, also giving a wicked smile. "The message that he'll be going first that is."

Harry just sighed and dropped down to the ground and started on his push-ups.

"First up!" Angelina shouted from the air. "Ron Weasley!" 

Ron flew out of the crowd and towards her.

Harry gave a small sigh when he heard this. It looked liked the twins were telling the truth when they said that they would have Ron be the first contestant. Now Harry was being forced to humiliate Ron in front of all the Gryffindors. Harry really felt bad about this. Ever since the first year, when Ron looked in the _mirror of Erised_, Harry knew that the one thing that Ron really wanted was to stand above his older brothers, who had always overshadowed him in every aspect. And now he, his best friend was going to help shatter Ron's greatest desire.

'No,' Harry thought to himself. 'There's still time. I have to warn Ron!'

"Ron!" Harry yelled out from the goal posts. Ron, who at the moment was receiving instructions form Angelina looked over in Harry's direction. "I have to tell you something!"

"Not Now Harry!" Angelina yelled back.

"But it's important!" Harry yelled again.

"Just ignore him," Angelina said to Ron, and continued giving him instructions.

"I have to stop him from going through with this," Harry said to himself, as he started flying towards Angelina.

"Going somewhere?" George said, as he got right in front of Harry, blocking his path.

"I can't let Ron embarrass himself," Harry stated, and flew around George, but was immediately stopped by Fred.

"Sorry Harry, but I'm afraid, that things like these must run their course," Fred said.

"And besides," George said as he flew in front of Harry. "You wouldn't want us to miss out on seeing our dear brother make an idiot of himself, do you?"

"Not when we even paid extra for close seats," Fred added.

"Harry get into place!" Angelina shouted. "We're starting!"

"Ron!" Harry yelled. "Give up-"

But before he could continue, the twins dragged him towards the goal, holding his mouth closed.

Ron took the quaffle from Angelina and began to fly directly at Harry, as fast as his cleansweep would take him.

"Ron don't!" Harry shouted. But it was too late; Ron was already too focused on the game to hear anything that Harry was saying.

"Oh great," Harry snorted, as he got ready to block Ron's shot.

Ron swiveled over to the right a bit and made a very sharp left turn when he was close to the goal. He threw the quaffle towards the right goal as soon as his finished turning, a very hard shot that would catch most keepers off guard, but somehow Harry caught it with ease.

Fred and George burst out in laughter as soon as they saw this.

"Hey Ron!" Fred shouted. "Who taught you how to shoot grandma!" 

Ron just ignored them and took another quaffle from Angelina, and once again headed towards Harry. This time he was zigzagging left and right hoping to make catch Harry off guard, when at the end he'd make a sharp ascend and shoot it form there. However, this didn't work, Harry was able to once again catch the quaffle with ease.

"Ron!" Harry yelled as soon as he caught the quaffle. "You have to stop and listen to me or you won't even make one shot in!"

Ron however didn't hear a word Harry had said. By now he was frustrated and dejected at the fact that Harry blocked two of his best moves like they were nothing at all.

"Good shot Ron!" George yelled out. "Are you sure your hand isn't greasy from all those meatballs that you've been throwing!" The twins broke into laughter once again. They both stopped when Angelina threw them a warning glance.

This time Ron flew towards the goal with Angelina.  They were passing the quaffle back and forth to each other as they were reaching the goal. Anglina had the quaffle, she stretched her arm back getting ready to throw the quaffle into the goal. She swung her arm with all her might and the quaffle quickly left her arm. However, it did not fly towards the goal, in fact it flew directly beneath her with blinding speed right into Ron's awaiting hands. Harry was confused for a minute but was able to recover right in time to see Ron swing his hand back to throw.

Ron threw it as hard as he could, but with a lot of effort, Harry was still able to block him.

Ron's jaw dropped when this happened. 'What is going on?' He thought. 'It's as if Harry knows what I'm going to do before I even do it?' He looked over to Fred and George and saw that they were laughing their heads off. 'Something funny is going on.'

"That's enough already!" Harry shouted. "He's had enough!"

"No!" Ron protested. "I can keep going!"

"No, I'm afraid you can't Ron," Angelina said. She looked over to Harry and asked, "is this what you've been trying to tell him about?"

Harry nodded.

"Well I suggest that you explain it to him while I get the next candidate ready," she said as she flew away towards the crowd of aspiring chasers.

"Harry what happened?" Ron asked as soon as Angelina flew away. "I never knew you were that good?"

"He's not," Fred said, as he flew right near them. 

"It's just you're that bad," George said, as he flew right behind Fred.

Ron turned to Harry giving him a 'is that true?' look.

"They're right about one thing Ron," Harry said. "It's not me."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked looking dejected.

"You have a bad habit of always turning your wrist up whenever you're about to shoot," Harry explained. "Like this," Harry moved his wrist in almost the exact motion that Ron did when he was about to shoot the quaffle. "I can predict in which direction you shoot and when you're planning on shooting by seeing when and how you turn your wrist.

"If you pick your wrist up backwards, it means you're going to shoot forward; if you turn it to the right that means you're going to shoot to your left; and if you cup the quaffle then that means that you're planning on shooting it to your right. An average keeper will notice this after a few shots. They're trained to watch out for things like that."

Ron looked completely stunned when Harry told him this. He looked over to Fred and George and asked them if it was true.

Fred and George looked at each other for a second, and then burst out laughing. 

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Ron snapped at them.

"You didn't ask," Fred said in between laughs.

"I tried to tell you all this time Ron," Harry said apologetically.

"Great!" Ron grunted. "Now I'm going to be the laughing stock of Gryffindor!"

"Maybe not," Harry said, with doubt in his voice. "Those were the some tough shots you made."

"Thanks," Ron said in a low dejected voice.

"Cheer up," Harry said. "There's always next year. If you could just nick that habit, I'm sure you'll get on the team."

"Really?" Ron said with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"Yeah," Harry reassured. "Angelina said that she's going to make me the captain next year, since I have the most experience. I'll definitely give you another chance."

"Thanks Harry," Ron said.

"Oh alright already," Fred grunted. "You two made us feel guilty, are you happy now?"

"What are you talking about?" Ron said, giving the twins a leer.

"We'll work with you, and help you nick that stupid habit of yours," George grunted.

"Really?" Ron said.

"We're only doing this because you're our brother," Fred said.

"But in order to succeed," George started, his wicked grin returning to his face.

"You're going to have to put yourself entirely in our hands," Fred said, giving an equally wicked grin.

Ron gulped and said, "Okay."

"Good," George said. "We'll start during Christmas break."

"Thanks guys," Ron said with sincerity.

"Oh come on Ron," Fred said, pretending to choke. "The deal is off if you start getting mushy on us."

"Harry!" Angelina called. "Get over here, the next chaser candidate is up now!"

"Coming!" Harry called back.

"Are you gonna be okay Ron?" Harry asked.

"I'll be fine Harry," Ron answered. "I'm heading down, Hermione's waiting for me."

"Ok see you later," Harry said. With that, he flew back towards the goal posts.

The rest of the tryouts went a lot more smoothly. Dean Thomas was made the new Gryffindor keeper. The fact that he was very tall, had long arms, and had experience in soccer was what gave him the edge in that competition. Michael Drahm, a third year that Harry never met before was made the backup beater. Peter folks, a fourth year was made the second backup beater. Jessica Parly, another third year was made a backup chaser. Rachel Salsbur another fourth was made the second backup chaser. And to Harry's disappointment, Colin Creevy's younger brother Dennis miraculously was made the third backup chaser. Harry assumed that his small size and his love for getting into troublesome situations gave him a speed advantage over all the other candidates.  

Thanks to all of the action on the quidditch field that day, Harry was more or less able to forget about what happened to him the previous day. Granted he wasn't in one of his best moods, but at least he was able to forget about that heavy burden that Dumbledore was placing on Harry for a little while. Quidditch was, like always the best distraction for Harry. 

By the time the quidditch tryouts were over, it was already dark at Hogwarts, and dinner was already being served.

Harry entered the great hall with the rest of the team, but soon left them to go and sit next to his friends.

"So how are you doing?" Harry asked Ron as soon as he sat down.

"Alright, I guess," Ron sighed.

"He's been moping all day long," Hermione said.

"I'm sorry that things had went so bad for you at the tryouts. But like I said, if you practice really hard this year, then I'm sure that next year you'll make the team," Harry said trying to cheer Ron up.

"Are you guys even gonna have tryouts next year?" Ron sighed again. "I mean you already have a full team, don't you?"

"Ron I told you, I'm going to be the team captain next year; I'll make it a special occasion kind of thing.

"Besides, I really want to start training a replacement seeker for when I have to leave. Right now I think that Colin's younger brother would be the best candidate for the job, being that he's small, and speedy, and has no qualms about getting himself into danger.

"So as you can see, we might have a spot open for you after all." 

"Really?" Ron said hopefully. "I mean, you're not just saying that to make me feel better?"

"Ron," Harry said. "You're my friend, I always tell you the truth, whether it be good or bad, you already know that."

"Thanks Harry," Ron said sincerely.

"So now will you eat something?" Hermione said. "You haven't touched your food at all."

Without even answering Hermione, Ron once again topped off his plate with what seemed like everything served.

"That was really nice of you Harry," Hermione said to him, as she took some food for herself.

"Well," Harry responded, while grabbing a chicken leg and putting it on his plate. "Ron is a good player. If it wasn't for that habit of his he'd definitely make the team."

"So what are you saying, that the only reason you're giving me another chance is because you want to improve your team?" Ron asked.

"No, I just feel like you deserve it," Harry answered. "You worked really hard, and became a better player than you were in the previous years. The only reason you didn't make it is because of one little problem. You shouldn't be penalized so severely for that."

"I guess you're right," Ron said. 

"So anyway, what are you going to do after dinner," Ron asked, changing the subject. "Do you wanna play a game of chess?"

Before Harry could say anything, Hermione interrupted in her bossy tone. "No he doesn't," she said. "Harry and I have to start with the arithmancy tutorial."

"Can't you do that later?" Ron whined.

"No we can't," Hermione hissed. "Harry has arithmancy tomorrow, and he didn't even start on his arithmancy homework yet; not to mention all the other homework he has."

"Well he already has one of his homework's in the bag," Ron replied.

"Which one," Harry asked.

"Divination," Ron answered as if it were obvious. "Just say that you're going to get killed by you-know-who, that's all." He finished casually.

"Ron, that's not funny!" Hermione snapped. "Don't even joke about things like that!"

"Who said I was joking," Ron said defensively. "This is the kind of stuff that Trelawny eats up."

"Why do you guys even stay in that stupid class?" Hermione said, her tone still a little harsh. "She's not even a real seer."

"Well, she does make real predictions once in a while," Harry said, before he could actually give thought saying. "Just a few-"

But before he could continue, he remembered that Dumbledore wanted him to keep this secret from Ron and Hermione.

"Oh well, would you look at the time," Harry said, looking down at his broken watch. "We'd better get going Hermione, I still have to finish my defense against the dark arts homework."

"Wait a minute," Ron said, stopping Harry from getting up. "You were about to say something. What happened a few days ago?"

"Nothing," Harry said, not sounding too convincing. "Nothing at all."

"You're lying Harry," Hermione said narrowing her eyes. "Does this have anything to do with that momerichi thing that Ron was talking about?"

"I'm sorry," Harry said. "But I really don't know what that is. So are you coming?" He got up and started heading away from the Gryffindor table.

"Yeah," Hermione said, as she got up, and walked out of the great hall with Harry.

Harry's first tutorial seemed to go real well. Hermione first explained the basic formula used in arithmancy, and gave a few examples of how professor Vector would derive that formula into a new one in Harry's intermediate class. It was really easy for her seeing as she had already taken the intermediate class, and was well aware of the kind of steps that professor Vector took all throughout the year.

With Hermione's help, Harry was able to finish his homework in just under three hours, whereas by himself, it would have taken him much longer, considering the fact that he had more than the other students.

"So, I guess that's it for our first session," Hermione said, as she began to put away her arithmancy books. "You should be able to survive the next few classes with the tips that I gave you. And if you still have trouble, just ask me ok?"

Harry just nodded, and said, "Thanks a lot."

"No problem," Hermione replied casually. "The truth is, that we're basically helping each other."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, as he was taking out his defense against the dark arts homework.

"Well," Hermione said turning a little red. "The truth is that this is what I wanted to do with my life ever since I was little."

"What? Teach?" Harry asked.

Hermione nodded.

"Well you're very good at it," Harry assured her.

"Well it helps if you have a good student," Hermione said, giving him a smile.

"I'm sure you'd do great no matter who your student is," Harry said. Harry looked around the common room, and realized that both he and Hermione were the only ones there.

Suddenly, a strange feeling came over Harry, one that he had never felt before. A warm, and tender feeling moved up and down his body, only stopping in his facing, causing him to feel something that he hadn't felt in a long time. He felt his mouth actually curve into a smile, a real one.

When Hermione saw this, she began smiling too.

"Harry. Do you know that, that's the first real smile you showed since I first saw you this year?" she said playfully.

Harry immediately shook it off as nothing more than some kind of one time weird feeling.

"I guess being back here at Hogwarts is finally taking its toll on me," Harry said, still smiling.

"You look really nice with a smile on your face," Hermione said in a soothing voice.

"So do you," Harry said. 

As soon as he said this, his face immediately turned back into a frown. "Hermione," He said in a low voice.

"What is it?" She asked, also starting to frown a bit.

"I just realized that I never apologized to you for what happened that night at your house."

"Don't worry about that," Hermione said brushing it of immediately. "It was nothing, really."

"Yes it was," Harry persisted. "You were being so nice to me, and I was so cold, it wasn't right." Harry put his right hand on one of her palms, and said, "I acted like a pratt, and I'm really, very sorry."

As soon as he finished, he realized where his hand was, and removed it immediately. His cheeks blushed slightly, and he lost his voice for a second. 

"I'm sorry," he said again as soon as his voice returned to him.

"Don't worry about it Harry," Hermione said, as she turned her head, trying to hide her blush.

Harry just nodded, and stayed silent for a minute.

He tried to start a new conversation with her, but for some reason wasn't able to get the words out. 'What's wrong with me?' Harry thought to himself. 'Why can't I say anything? Do is still feel guilty about what happened that night, or is it something else?' Harry looked over at Hermione one more time. 'Oh well, I'll probably never figure it out if I try thinking about it.'

"Well, I'm going to bed," Harry said as he stood up and started walking towards the boys' dormitory.

"Harry," Hermione called after him.

"What is it?" Harry asked as he turned around to face her once again.

"You forgot all your stuff," she said as she pointed at the desk near where they were sitting.

"Oh right," Harry said awkwardly. "I guess I better get them then."

"Yeah, I guess you should," Hermione replied just as awkwardly.

Harry started picking up his books, only to accidentally drop them all on the floor. 

"Here let me help with that," Hermione said. She got out of her seat, and bent down to pick up one of Harry's books just as Harry bent down to pick up that same book. The only problem was that neither noticed the other going for the same book, and they ended up bumping their heads together.

"Sorry," they said simultaneously, and immediately went for another book; and once again, it so happened that they each reached for the same book.

This time, it wasn't their heads that collided, but it was their hands, as they both grabbed the exact same book at the exact same time. 

Both of them experienced a feeling of incredible warmth and comfort when this happened. Neither Harry nor Hermione removed their hands from the book, even though they each wanted to really badly. Their brains were telling them to do it, but their arms disobeyed. 

They each slowly looked down at their hands, and then slowly turned to look the other's face. They stopped moving when their eyes met. 

Hermione's beautiful brown eyes awakened a feeling inside Harry, which he never felt before. For the first time in a long while, he felt free. He felt all of his burdens weighing him down being lifted away. At that moment Harry, felt like he could do anything. He felt like he was soaring the skies and breathing in the fresh air around him.

Hermione smiled as she looked into Harry's brilliant emerald green eyes, and his shining black pupils. They no longer had pain, nor suffering, nor death in them. Instead there was a beautifully glowing fire of hope, trust, and love. These were the eyes that she fell in love with so long ago. The eyes she'd dreamt about for so many nights. 

Harry and Hermione started to move closer to each other, neither aware of what they were doing; both captured in the other's eyes. They were uncontrollably inching closer and closer to each other, when the portrait to the common room opened up and a groan came from the other end.   

"Oh, boy," Ron groaned as he walked into the common room clutching his stomach. "You guys would not believe how much I just ate."

Harry and Hermione immediately turned away from each other, and pulled back their hands. 

"What are you guys doing?" Ron said, as he looked at them suspiciously.

"We're uh…" Harry started, not knowing what to say next.

"We're picking up Harry's books," Hermione said quickly, as she started to gather them up.

"Right," Harry said, as he did the same.

"Well, don't let me get in your way," Ron said as he headed up to the boys dormitory still clutching his stomach.

Both Harry and Hermione just ignored him and continued gathering Harry's books.

As soon as they picked them all up, they stood up and Hermione handed him all the books, which she picked. Up. As she did she stole another look into his eyes, and was immediately forced to look away. It was all back, the pain, the suffering, the death. Not even a spark of the flame that was a there a second ago was left. All that was there was a barren graveyard. Hermione felt her insides turn, because she knew that the moment had passed.

'His eyes seem even worse than they were before,' Hermione thought to herself as she watched Harry walk back up to his dormitory. 'I guess it's true what they say. You never really know what you have, until you lose it.' 

She sighed, picked up her own books and headed off to her own dormitory.

The next few days went by very smoothly for Harry. He and Hermione had an unspoken agreement not to talk about what had almost happened that Sunday night. His classes (except potions) were becoming a lot more enjoyable, especially defense against the dark arts.

He was able to finish his defense against the dark arts homework during the breakfast and lunch of that day. He ended up getting full marks, and he also received the extra credit for writing about how a defensive spell could be used offensively. Hermione was surprised that Harry had gotten it right, but was even more surprised when he told her that he had gotten the answer out of the book she sent him for his birthday.

"You actually read it?" she whispered during the class.

"All of it," Harry whispered back. "It was a good distraction."

"I'm impressed," she gleamed.

"Well I'm disappointed Harry," Ron sulked. "First you're a prefect, then you take arithmancy, and now you're actually doing extra credit. You are an embarrassment to the marauders."

Hermione was about to retort, but was cut off by Fluer.

"Mr. Weasley!" She spat. "It seems to me that whatever you're talking about is much more important than what I am talking about. So why don't you come down and tell the whole class what is so important?"

Ron blushed a little and said, "It's okay."

"I was very disappointed that you didn't get the extra credit, when both of your friends did."

Hermione gave Ron a wicked smile when Fluer said this, but Ron didn't catch it.

"I'm sorry," Ron said, almost melting just by looking at her.

"Well, I want you to hand in the extra credit tomorrow, and then I'll think about forgiving you," she said indignantly.   

"Yes ma'am," Ron said, almost saluting.

"Honestly," Hermione scoffed under her breath.

"Now as I was saying, today I will explain how to use these defensive spells in an offensive manner," Fluer continued. "Now before I start I must inform you that these spells are some of the most complex magic you'll ever learn, and even some of the most experienced wizards refrain from using them.

"To use them you are going to be forced to double-think. You must focus your primary thoughts on offense as well as defense. And you're going to haf to hold that thought the entire time, whether the spell is in its offensive or defensive use.

"Now," she continued, while taking her book and turning to a certain page. "Can anyone tell what these spells are?" 

Immediately Hermione's hand went up.

"Mr. Potter?" Fluer said, making Hermione sulk a bit.

"The _fire wall_, the _water barrier_, the _lightning shield_, and the _magic-fire wall_," Harry answered calmly.

"That is correct Mr. Potter," she said smiling. "Five points to Gryffindor.

"Oh and Mr. Weasley, I want a detailed description on each of them, just telling me their names will not be enough," she added.

Ron just nodded dreamily.

Fluer took out her wand, waived it and shouted, "_Incendious protectus_." And almost immediately a bright orange-red wall appeared in front of her. The wall burnt a brilliant glow and was giving off heat that all the students in the front row could feel. She kept it for about a half a minute before extinguishing it.

After it was gone all of the students jaws dropped. It was definitely a remarkable display of magic for someone her age.

"As you can see, that wall was actually made up of real fire. It is just as powerful as the protecto spell, but also very dangerous to the opponent. Knowing either this spell, or the water barrier, or the lightning wall, or the magic-fire wall would be a great advantage to a person in a duel.

"However the drawback is, that it takes a great deal of concentration to maintain, and a lot of practice to master it. For not only do you have to keep your thoughts on maintaining this wall, but you also have to be able to resist the other person's attack. If you cannot keep your concentration while your opponent is attacking you, then he'll be able to break through your wall with ease.

"It is for this reason, that most wizards don't use these spells very often, if at all. However those that do are usually some of the finest duelists in the world.

"Now I don't expect any of you to learn these spells this year, or next year, or even in your final year. I only showed it to you, because I want you to know about them and how they work, in case you ever do run into a wizard who can use them, understand?"

The entire class answered enthusiastically, at least all the boys did.

For the rest of the class, Fluer had the students come up and try to block a few weak spells with the reflecto spell. Hermione and Harry were the only ones who were able to do it successfully on their first try.

The rest of Harry's classes were exactly the same. 

In charms they continued working on the switching charm. A lot more people were able to do it this time. Hermione however seemed to develop a block for that particular charm, much to Ron's delight.

In History of Magic, they continued learning about the Hogwarts' four founders. Right now they were discussing Rowena Ravenclaw in detail.

In potions, Snape was still as vindictive as ever. He forced them to make a sneezing potion, and them started taking away points from every Gryffindor who accidentally sneezed because of it. This gave all the Slytherins a good laugh; that as well as all the jokes that the Slytherins were making about Ron's miserable Quidditch tryout.

In Herbology, they learned how to raise a Celtic garden trap-a plant that eats up all the weeds in the garden, and excretes a great fertilizer, a great asset to any garden or greenhouse.

In transfiguration, professor McGonagall had them start on transfiguring microscopic things into larger things.

In divination professor Trlawny continued predicting Harry's death on a daily basis.

Arithmancy had become a lot easier for Harry, thanks to Hermione's help. Since she explained everything that Professor Vector taught before she actually taught it, and since she helped link it with the basic stuff, Harry was able to understand almost everything that Professor Vector taught.

And in care of magical creatures class, Hagrid was starting to teach them about the Pegasus-a flying horse. That lesson really delighted most of the students.

And whenever Harry wasn't in class, he was either studying in the library, getting tutored by Hermione, or on the quidditch field, practicing. 

Angelina Johnson forced them to have five practice sessions a week, in order to train the new recruits. 

While Angelina was training the new members of the team, Fred, George, and Alicia were forcing Harry to partake in a play that they called "their legacy". It was their last year in school, and they wanted to create a play that would be remembered for a long time. When they first told him about the play, Harry refused to do, but after a few hours of nagging, Harry gave in.

With all of his studying, tutorials, and quidditch, Harry hadn't had time to think about everything that happened to him in the beginning of the year. The book of dark arts lay dormant and forgotten at the bottom of his trunk. He hadn't even given a second thought about the prediction that Professor Trelawny had made, and he had almost forgotten what Dumbledore had said about the basilisks.

            Because he was so busy Harry hadn't even noticed that over a month had gone by since everything had happened to him.

It was all of the other students' anxiety about the first round of the wizard's duel, which made Harry realize how much time had truly passed.

As the first round was getting closer, Harry himself was becoming nervous.

He wasn't afraid to lose, far from it. He never even wanted to enter the duel. What he was afraid of was winning. 

Every time Harry saw Neville, he always looked so depressed, and anxious. It made Harry feel very sorry for him. Harry remembered what Dumbledore had told him the previous year about Neville's parents; about how they were in St. Mungus Hospital, completely out of their minds, not even able to recognize their own son. A lot of people always gave Harry credit for being so strong, but Harry believed that Neville was much stronger. 

For the entire time that he was at Hogwarts, he never once mentioned his parents, never once complained about the horrible condition that they were in, and as far as Harry saw, he never once felt sorry for himself because of his situation. Harry really respected Neville for this.

And it was for that reason that Harry was so afraid of facing Neville in the wizard's duel. Harry knew that the reason he entered the tournament was because of his parents. His parents were both aurors, and Neville always tried his best to be like them. Although Neville had a lot of heart, he always had a problem in most of his classes. Harry knew that Neville wouldn't stand a chance in the duel, especially if he was up against seventh years. But what made Harry feel bad was that he would be forced to face and most likely beat Neville in his very first match.

Harry wasn't being cocky, it was the absolute truth. Harry had experienced battles before. He was fast, head strong, and he knew a lot of useful spells. He even faced off against the most powerful wizard ever, and was able to escape-something that no one else could've said about him or herself. 

As for Neville, he was very clumsy, slow, and had a very bad memory. 

So by looking at it from an objective third party's point of view, Neville didn't stand a chance. 

As October twenty-first was coming closer, Harry was becoming more restless about the upcoming match. He was starting to fall behind in some of his classes, and he was once again unable to sleep. 

He remembered how hard it was for him to shatter Ron's dream, and now he had to do it to Neville as well. 

'What kind of friend am I!' He kept thinking to himself. 'I don't want to be the one to dishearten Neville, but I have no other choice. It's not fair to him. I never even wanted to enter the duel to begin with. I was once again dragged into it because of Voldemort!'

Voldemort. Every time Harry thought of that name, rage would overtake him entire body and mind. 'It's his fault that all of this is happening! He's the one who's responsible for everything that's happening! It's because of him we're even having this duel!' 

As time passed on Harry's anger turned into pure hatred. Every time he saw Snape or any of the Slytherins, it took all the self-control he had not to do anything to hurt them. 

Ron and Hermione noticed his sudden change in attitude, but decided that it would be best not to mention it.

Finally, after all the talk, after all the anxiety, the day of the first duel had come. 

It was a very dark, and rainy Saturday morning. No one was in the mood to eat anything for breakfast that day, for everyone was so nervous about the wizards duel.

Ron and Hermione's duels were scheduled to be at the same time. Ron was facing off against a fourth year Huffepuff, while Hermione was facing a seventh year Ravenclaw.

They all agreed, that it would be better if Harry attended Hermione's duel, and cheer her on, being that her competition would be a lot stronger than Ron's, and she'd need all the cheering she could get.

By the time the duel had actually started, Harry had made a decision; he would lose on purpose to Neville. He would not be the one responsible for disheartening another friend. Even if it would mean accepting a loss, and taking a chance at letting Dumbledore down. He knew that this was something he had to do.

Hermione approached the arena ring almost trembling. She looked into the crowds trying to find Harry among them. As soon as she saw him there, she gave herself a small smile. Seeing him there gave her all the confidence she needed to face her first challenge.

She stepped onto the arena and looked over to the other side to see her opponent walking towards her. He was a well built seventh year, with brown hair.

'He looks really confident,' Hermione said to herself, noticing the smirk on his face. 'I guess it's time to disillusion him.'

They both walked closer to each other, as a magic barrier formed around the arena.

"Bow to each other," professor McGonagall called from the judges' table.

They both gave each other a small bow neither taking their eyes off the opponent.

"Now you will turn around and I will count to ten," Professor McGonagall called again, making each of them rise. "For each count you will take one step away from each other. Once you take the tenth step, you may turn around and begin."

Both Hermione and her opponent nodded and turned their backs to each other.

"One," Professor McGonagall counted.

Both Hermione and her opponent took their first step.

"Two."

They took their second step.

"Three." 

They took their third step. By now anxiety had overcome Hermione. She was trembling once again. Every step she took felt like it was mile long. She started looking into the crowds once more trying to find Harry. Hoping to receive an extra jolt of confidence by looking at him. 

She found him on her eight step. 

He gave her a nodded, and moved his lips saying something that she couldn't hear. She was able to make it out by reading his lips. "Good luck, I know you'll do great," Was what she believed he had said. She nodded and continued.

"Nine," Professor Mcgonagall called again.

"And, TEN!"

Both Hermione and the Ravenclaw turned around and faced each other, both ready to fight.

The Ravenclaw raised his wand and yelled, "_Mizumo_!" At that moment a huge ball of water appeared out of mid-air and headed straight towards Hermione.

'Odd,' Hermione thought quickly. 'No one ever begins an attack that way. Oh well, better for me, I'll just counter it!'

She raised her wand and yelled, "_Lacarnum Inflamoreau_!" About a second before the ball could hit her, her bluebell flames appeared and blocked the water ball. 

The flames quickly shattered and evaporated the water, and started heading towards the Ravenclaw.

"Protecto!" The Ravencalw yelled. A blue wall appeared in front of him and blocked all of Hermione's bluebell flames.

He raised his wand again and shouted, "Expelliarmus." A beam of light immediately headed for Hermione, but she easily sidestepped it.

"Expelliarmus!" He yelled again, and another beam of light headed towards Hermione. 

Hermione was off balance from sidestepping the first one, and was only barely able to duck the second one.

"Expelliarmus!" He yelled one more time, and this time Hermione was forced to roll in order to avoid it.

Before he had another chance to attack, Hermione used the stunning spell on him after just coming out of her roll. 

This time it was his turn to dodge the attack. 

Hermione took this opportunity to try and get to her feet, but the Ravenclaw wouldn't have it. "_Reeshenia_!" He yelled. Immediately, the ground under Hermione's feet started shaking violently. It was as if there was an earthquake right under her feet.

She was once again knocked on her back. She raised her wand and got ready to use the protecto spell (which she already learned) expecting another attack the Ravenclaw. But oddly enough, it didn't come.

"_Risheptica_!" the Raven claw yelled. Hermione looked a little confused at that moment. This was a spell that she never heard of. She was about to use the protecto spell, but refrained from doing so when she found out what the spell the Ravenclaw had just used, actually did.

It covered the entire area in a very thick white fog. Hermione couldn't even see her own body, much less the body of her opponent.

'This is odd?' She thought to herself as she got to her feet. 'He's making things just as hard for himself as he is for me. Why?'

Just then she heard footsteps running past her, and was immediately thrown on her guard. 

'He must have experience battling this way,' Hermione thought to herself, while raising her wand getting ready for anything. 'It's the only explanation as to why he'd do this.'

Hermione closed her eyes and started listening closely to her surroundings. 'He's waiting for me to make the first move,' she thought to herself. 'I could easily make this fog disappear, but then I'd be leaving myself open for an attack. He'd be able to take me out right then and there. I have to be patient, and wait for him to make the first move. I have to try to use my other senses. I have to be ready.'

Hermione continued standing there, waiting for her opponent to make the next move. Relying now on her hearing rather than her sight.

Just then Hermione heard a sound from her left. It was the sound of a foot hitting the floor, and of an arm waiving.

'That's where he is,' she thought to herself. She immediately turned to her left and raised her wand, getting ready.

"Stupefy!" A voice yelled from the place she was facing.

"Protecto!" Hermione yelled, causing a magic wall to appear in front of her and blocking the spell.

"Big mistake!" Hermione yelled. "Lacarnum inflamoreau," And she sent a few bluebell flames in the direction of her opponent.

After a few seconds, she heard ruffling and a bit of yelping.

"That's it!" she said to herself. "Stupefy!" She yelled and shot a beam directly at the source of the ruffling and yelping. She heard the beam connect, as well as a body fall to the ground.

She gave a sigh of relief, and started to relax a bit. She raised her wand and yelled, "_finite incantetum_!" And in a puff of smoke the fog disappeared and revealed a tired Hermione, and her knocked out opponent.

It took the crowd a few seconds before they realized what was going on, and start cheering.

The barrier immediately disappeared, and professor McGonagall walked onto the stage and congratulated Hermione on her victory.

At lunch almost everyone in the great hall was discussing the duels that took place that day. The Gryffindor table was no exception. Almost all of the Gryffindors were either congratulating each other or offering their condolences for those that lost. Hermione and Olivea received the biggest praise, as they had beaten two seventh years. Ron received a little praise as well, but not nearly as much as Hermione and Olivea.

The only people who weren't talking were Neville and Harry. 

Neville just sat quietly by his plate, barely touching anything on it, and Harry was sitting on Hermione right side, closely eyeing Neville.

Harry felt bad seeing Neville this way, but he knew that he would feel better after he won the duel. Maybe it would even renew his confidence. So what if Harry had to lose on purpose. He didn't care. He never even wanted to enter this duel in the first place. Once again he was dragged into it. He was sure that Dumbledore would understand. And besides, even if he lost he would still have another chance. Contestants needed two losses to be eliminated.

Harry's mind was set; he was going to let Neville win this one.

"Good luck Harry!" Hermione shouted, as Harry walked away from her and Ron.

He slowly entered the ring and faced the nervous Neville on the opposite end. The barrier separating the arena and the crowd appeared once again.

"Bow to each other," A voice from the judges' stands called. 

Neville bowed slightly, while Harry just turned to the judges' stand. He realized that the voice belonged to none other than the headmaster of the school: Albus Dumbledore.

'What is he doing here?' Harry though frantically. Harry just sighed. He didn't even have to think about it. He already knew why Dumbledore was there. To keep Harry from doing what he was planning on doing.

"Harry, you must bow," Dumbledore called again.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled, as he turned back to Neville and gave him a slight bow.

"Turn around and walk ten paces, and then you may begin the duel," professor McGonagall called.

Harry and Neville turned their backs to each other and started walking, as soon as professor McGonagall started counting.

'What am I going to do now?' Harry thought frantically as he walked away from Neville. He looked toward the crowd, as if hoping to find an answer there, but of course there was none. 'If I win Neville will be disheartened, and if I lose on purpose, then I'll end up really letting Dumbledore down.'

He stole a look over at the judge's table and saw a worried look in Dumbledore's twinkling eyes.

'He knows,' he thought to himself. 'What should I do?'

"Seven," Professor McGonagall counted.

'What should I do? Someone please tell?' He thought frantically.

'You must do what is right,' his mind told him.

'I can't!'

"Eight."

'You can't let Dumbledore down,' his mind told him again. 'He's one the only people who you truly admire and respect!'

"But I can't let Neville down either!" Harry whispered harshly.

"Nine!"

'If he wins, it won't be real; it will all be a lie; do you really believe that you'll be able to congratulate him!'

Harry started shaking his head frantically.

He looked into the stands one more time hoping to find some kind of answer.

"Ten."

Harry didn't turn around. His gaze stopped at a particular person in the stands; a person who arose Harry's anger just by standing there. Malfoy. Harry saw his cold eyes, and his sinister sneer, and all he wanted to do at that moment was wipe it off his face. 

'It's your fault that all this is happening!' Harry growled in his head. 'You and your master are to blame!'

Neville held up his wand and took aim at Harry's back. "Ex-Ex-Expelliarmus!" He yelled.

'Malfoy, I'd never back down! AND I 'M NOT GOING TO START NOW!'

He turned around and quickly sidestepped Neville's blast. He raised his wand and shouted, "STUPEFY!" A huge bright beam of light erupted from the end of Harry's wand. It was much bigger and wider than any he had ever done. Neville was so surprised and scared that he wasn't able to dodge it in time. The beam hit him directly in the chest and sent him flying out of the ring. Neville hit the barrier dividing the crowd and the arena and fell down out of the ring completely knocked out.

Everyone's jaw dropped when they saw this. Ron, Hermione, and the teachers were no exception. Never have any of them seen such a huge display of power from a fifth year. Even a fully-grown wizard, wouldn't be able to do something like that.

Harry looked around at the crowd and realized what had just happened. He let his rage take over him completely. He took all of his anger and frustrations out on poor Neville.

"What have I done?" Harry whispered to himself sadly. "I never meant to-"

"The winner is Harry Potter," Professor McGonagall shouted, and the entire stands began to cheer. 

Before Harry was given the chance to leave, he saw Dumbledore call him over to the judge's stand.

"I'll meet you guys at dinner," Harry said in a low voice.

"Okay," Hermione nodded. She sensed that something was wrong, but decided not to ask him about it now.

Harry walked over to Dumbledore, and sat own in one of the judge's seats.

"You knew didn't you?" Harry said.

"Yes, I assumed that you would try something," Dumbledore said.

"It just isn't fair," Harry said. "Why does everything bad have to happen to him?"

Dumbledore just smiled down at him. 

"What?" Harry looked up at Dumbledore strangely.

"I am amazed at how mature you are for your years Harry," Dumbledore said slowly. "However, you can't just give someone a prize because you feel bad for them. At least you were able to show him the truth. It would have been much worse if he had gained false confidence. He would only end up losing it."

"I guess," Harry said slowly.

"I am proud that you made the right decision," Dumbledore said.

"Thank you sir," Harry said, standing up and getting ready to walk away.

"However," Dumbledore said, making Harry stop in his tracks. "I am not proud of the way you had won."

"What do you mean, sir?" Harry asked looking up at Dumbledore curiously.

"You gave in to your anger and your hatred. And that is never the way to go Harry," Dumbledore said shaking his head.

Harry didn't say anything; he just lowered his head a little and bit his lip.

"Enmity is only good for one thing in this world. To give birth to more enmity. Remember that Harry," Dumbledore said in a low and melancholy voice. "Good luck with the rest of the tournament." Without another word, Dumbledore left the room.

"He's right," Harry said to himself after a minute. "I became everything that I hated."

"Don't listen to that old buzzard!" A sneer came from the doorway.

Harry looked up and saw Malfoy walking through the threshold. "He doesn't even know what he's talking about." Malfoy said as walked towards Harry.

"I take it this isn't a social call," Harry growled. "What do you want?"

"Now, now Potter," Malfoy scoffed. "Is that any way to treat someone who just wants to congratulate you?"

"No, but I know that you're here for more," Harry retorted.

"Well aren't we perceptive."

"It's not perception Malfoy," Harry spat. "It's a well know fact that a Slytherin never does anything nice, unless he's able to get something out of it. So what do you want?"

"A wizard's duel," Malfoy said shortly. "You and me."

"Well if that's what you want, then I'm afraid you're going to have to be patient. We are in opposite divisions after all," Harry said, grinning wickedly.

"Who care about that?" Malfoy said waving his arm. "You and I can have an unofficial duel for bragging rights."

"Well if that's what you really want," Harry started.

"It is."

"Then I'm afraid I'm going to have to let you down," Harry finished maliciously.

"Come on Potter," Malfoy urged. "You know you want this as much as I do. I saw the way looked at me today. There was nothing but hatred in you.

"And I must say, the way you channeled that hatred was simply brilliant."

"Well you're right about one thing," Harry said. "But even though I do want to wipe that ridiculous sneer off your face really badly. I'd rather not."

"Why not?" Malfoy growled.

"Because, the best way to get back at you is by not fighting you. It's driving you crazy already." Harry said shortly, as he started walking away.

"Well," Malfoy said lightly. "I guess that's fine with me. I have to accept your decision."

Harry stopped and turned around. He knew that Malfoy wouldn't just leave it at that. "What is it?" he said.

"Well," Malfoy said. "Your refusal to cooperate has left me frustrated and perturbed. And I'm afraid I'm going to have to find some way to let these feelings out."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked.

"Guess who I'm facing in my next duel?" Malfoy said with gleam in his voice.

Harry's eyes widened. "You don't mean?"

"That's right, your friend Weasley," Malfoy gleamed. "I sincerely hope he knows how to walk on his hands, because-"

Before Malfoy could continue, Harry stopped him by grabbing him by the front of his collar. "If you do anything to Ron!" Harry gritted through his teeth. "I'll-"

"You'll do what?" Malfoy interrupted. "If you lay a hand on me here, the only thing that's going to happen is: that you're going to get in trouble, and I'll probably double my retribution on your friend."

Harry let go of Malfoy and sighed.

"On the other hand," Malfoy continued. "If you cooperate with me, I'll just knock him out with a simple stunning spell, I promise."

"Fine," Harry grunted.

"Excellent," Malfoy sneered. "Meet me tomorrow at midnight on the quidditch pitch, I'll bring the brooms."

"Brooms?" Harry looked at Malfoy quizzically.

"Of course Potter," Malfoy said. "Our duel can't be just some common duel. We have to make it one to remember. Besides, this way I can prove that, not only am I a better dueler than you, but that I am also a better flyer than you."

Harry just stood there leering.

"Do you accept," Malfoy said holding out his hand. "Or _yield_!" He finished in disgust.

Harry grabbed Malfoys hand and grunted, "I accept!"

"Perfect!"

"Just one more thing," Harry said. "How do I know you wont chicken out like the last time?"

Malfoy just sneered in his direction. "Fine then, meet me in the prefects bathroom at midnight," he said pointing at a shiny silver badge on his chest. "You are a prefect aren't you?"

"Fine!" Harry spat, and walked away.

Harry never showed up for dinner. Nor did he return to his common room, until it was late. In fact it was well past midnight when Harry actually climbed through the portrait hole. 

He was almost caught by Filch twice that night, but he didn't care.

He looked around and saw that almost everyone was already in his or her dormitories sleeping. There was only one person in the common room. He was sitting close to the fire and crying into his hands.

"Neville," Harry whispered to himself.

He slowly walked over to where Neville was sitting. "Can I sit down here please?" He asked.

Neville quickly dried up his tears and nodded.

"I'm sorry about what happened today Neville," Harry said in a low voice.

"Why," Neville said. "You only did what you had to. You won. You were doing the exact same thing to me as I was trying to do to you." He sniffed a little and continued. "It just isn't fair, Harry."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"It's just that, well why do some people have all the luck, while others have all the pain."

"I'm not following you?" Harry said, when in fact he really was. 

"Well people like Hermione Granger, and Draco Malfoy for example. They have everything. They have looks, brains, and…well everything," Neville said between sniffs. "Then there are people like you and me. People who are forced to suffer all their lives."

Harry didn't say anything.

"I never told anyone this," Neville said. "But I sort of know how you feel Harry. At least about your parents I mean."

Harry nodded, and said, "I know."

Neville looked at him curiously. "You do?" he asked.

Harry nodded. "I accidentally found out about your parents last year."

"Oh," Neville sniffed. "I'm sorry I never told you before."

Harry just nodded again. 

The truth was he really didn't know what could say to make Neville feel better. He couldn't just deny the fact that both Malfoy and Hermione had better lives. Because the fact was, compared to Neville, they did. Harry looked around the room and sighed once.

"So you agree with me?" Neviile said.

Harry still didn't say anything, he just continued looking around, trying to think of something to say. 

As he was looking, his eyes wandered over to a copy of the daily prophet lying on one of the table. This gave Harry an idea.

He turned to Neville and said, "I have a present for you."

Neville looked at him quizzically and said, "What is it?"

Harry waived his hand once, and immediately, the newspaper flew right towards him, right into his hand.

"Good trick," Neville sniffed. "You didn't even need to use a wand."

Harry carefully ripped out a perfect square from the paper and started folding it in different positions.

"What are you doing?" Neville asked.

"When I was living with the muggles," Harry started to explain. "I wanted to stay away from them as often as possible. So naturally, whenever my school had some kind of extracurricular activity, I would stay for it. And in one of them I learned how to make this," He said as he finished folding the paper into a crane.

"What is that?" Neville asked, giving Harry a strange look.

"It's a paper crane," Harry replied, flashing the crane in front of Neville's face.

"That's what you're giving me?" Neville snorted. "A piece of paper."

"Not exactly," Harry said shaking his head. "This piece of paper comes with a story.

"In the muggle world the crane has become an international symbol of peace."

"Why?" Neville asked.

"Because of the story that I am about to tell you," Harry answered.

"Go on," Neville urged.

"About five decades ago," Harry started. "The muggles fought a horrible war with each other. They called it 'World War II'.

"Millions upon millions of people died in that war. But the story that I am going to tell you has to do with only two of the many countries that fought in that war. The names of these countries are America and Japan."

"What happened?" Neville asked, obviously curious as to where Harry was going with this.

"The Americans ended the war by dropping two Atomic bombs on two cities in Japan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

"What are atomic bombs?" Neville asked.

"Atomic bombs are some of the muggles' most powerful military weapons. One bomb has the power to destroy a city, and kill many people."

"That's unbelievable," Neville said, eyes widening.

"But aside from the many deaths that these weapons can cause, there is another price. After the bombs exploded, they left a very high amount of radiation in the air."

"Radiation?" Neville said.

"It's very dangerous for people to breathe in," Harry informed. "Its in the highest order of carcinogens."

"Car-what-of-what?" Neville asked looking confused.

"Something that causes cancer, a very fatal disease."

Neville just nodded, and asked for Harry to continue.

"This story is about a girl named Sadoko Sasaki," Harry continued. "She was only two years old when the bombs were dropped.

"She grew up to be very strong, and athletic. One thing that she loved doing was running."

"What happened to her?" Neville asked.

"In 1955, when she was 11 years old, she just collapsed one day," Harry said in a sad tone. "She was diagnosed with Leukemia, a type of cancer.

"Her best friend told her of an old Japanese legend. She said, that if Sadoko made one thousand paper cranes, the gods would grant her one wish.

"Sadoko immediately started working on making the cranes as fast as she could. Even though she was sick, and weak, she still continued. Hoping that she would get better, so she could run again. And she actually finished the cranes in a few months-"

"And let me guess," Neville interrupted. "Her wish was granted, and she got all better right?" Neville said sarcastically.

Harry just looked at him for a second, and then clenched the hand that was holding the crane into a fist, completely crushing the paper crane.

"No," Harry said in a low and melancholy voice. "She didn't. She died a very short while after that."

"I'm sorry," Neville said quickly. "I didn't-"

"Reality isn't always as kind as we would like it to be. Sometimes it can be very cruel and unforgiving. But no matter what her odds were, she never gave up. She just kept going.

"Her friends and classmates were so inspired by her, that they put together a book of all of her letters.

"They began to dream of building a monument to Sadoko and all the children who were killed by the atom bomb. They all started collecting money, and by 1958 they were able to build a statue of her in Hiroshima Park. And under that statue they made a wish and inscribed it there. It reads, 'This is our cry, This is our prayer, Peace in the world'."

By now Neville's eyes started releasing tears once again.

"And to this day, people make paper cranes and send them to Hiroshima Park, hoping that nothing like that horrible war will ever happened again.

"Her statue is still there. And every time the sun rises, people who are in the park feel like it's rising behind her. Every morning the statue shines, bringing hope to the people." Harry turned and looked directly at Neville. "Maybe Neville, maybe if you try really hard, and never give up." Harry opened up his clenched fist to reveal the paper crane in perfect condition. Harry waived his left hand causing the crane to magically float into Neville's lap. "Maybe you can shine too."

Neville didn't say anything for a while. He just kept looking down at the crane. After about a minute of silence Neville looked up and Harry and smiled. "Thank you Harry, you really are a great friend."

Harry just nodded.

Neville picked up his crane and said, "I'm going to bed. See you tomorrow."

"Good night," Harry replied.

Neville turned and walked up to the boys' Dormitory admiring his new crane.

As soon as Neville was out of earshot, Harry sighed and said, "Well, at least he feels better now."

A/n: The story of Sadoko Sasaki is true. And if anyone wants to make 1,000 paper cranes and mail them to her statue. String the cranes on a garland, 100 on each, and send them to:

                                    Office of the Mayor, City of Hiroshima

                                    6-34 Kokutaiji-Machi

1 Chome Naka-ku, Hiroshima 730 Japan


	21. Fight to the Finish

Disclaimer- I don not own Harry Potter.

A/N- thank you all for reviewing, and I'm very sorry that I made the last chapter so long. I just couldn't postpone another chapter (I already did it like 5 or 6 times), because this story is already way too long (chapter-wise I mean). I'm going to speed things up from here on.

                                                                Chapter 21-The Long Awaited Battle

                Harry stayed in the common room all night after Neville had left. He didn't get a wink of sleep that night. 

                Although he was glad that he made Neville feel better, and about giving him some confidence; that feeling was blocked out by his current problem: his duel with Malfoy.

                After Harry was able to sit down and think about it, he realized that accepting Malfoy's challenge was one of the stupidest things he ever did. He and Malfoy were about to have a duel in the air, completely unsupervised. As far as Harry could see, no matter what happened he would end up being the loser. If he won the duel, then chances are, that Malfoy would end up dying, and Harry would end up going to Azkaban for murder. And if Malfoy won the duel, then Harry would probably end up dying.

                'Did Malfoy really think this through before he challenged me?' Harry wondered. 'He must realize that an unsupervised aerial wizard's duel is absurd. No matter what happens, we both end up being losers.'

                Just then, a new thought entered Harry's mind. 'What if Voldemort is really behind this? Draco is Lucius Malfoy's son. That's probably his plan. He wants to kill me. Even if he gets sent to Azkaban it won't really matter, because Voldemort is probably going to bust him out. He did plan on raiding Azkaban. If Malfoy can take me out right here, then there will be no way to stop Voldemort's army of Basilisks.'

                Harry sighed and buried his face in his hands. 'Why did I accept this stupid duel?'

                The whole day Harry was unable to concentrate in his classes. In potions class, Snape ended up deducting twenty points from Gryffindor, because Harry's sneezing potion exploded and made everyone in the class sneeze for the entire lesson.   

                In Herbology Harry almost got his hand bitten off by one of professor Sprout's meat eating plants. Luckily Hermione was able to move his hand away just in time.

                In transfiguration, he ended up shrinking his table to a microscopic size.

                But the worst one of all was care of magical creatures. While Hagrid was explaining how a Pegasus' wings differ from a hippogriff's, Harry was just standing by himself, leaning on the fence trying to think of a way out of this duel. So far his only idea was to injure himself badly and hope that madam Pomfrey would force him to stay overnight in the hospital wing. That would at least delay the duel for a little while.

                "Ready for tonight Potter?" A cold sneer came from Harry's left side. Harry turned and saw Malfoy standing all by himself.

                "Where are your bodyguards?" Harry replied. "I thought you never go anywhere without them?"

                "I don't need them to finish you off," Malfoy scoffed.

                Harry's eyes slowly turned curved themselves into a leer. 'So he really is planning on killing me,' Harry thought to himself. "Well remember, Crabbe and Boyle won't be there to save you tonight," Harry said aloud.

                "Like I already said, I won't need them," Malfoy shot back. "Handling you will be a piece of cake."

                Harry's leer became even stronger.

                "Unlike you, I have been in training all summer," Malfoy continued. "Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you managed to sneak away from the muggles and that pathetic ministry to practice a few parlor tricks on your own. I guess we'll see tonight won't we?"

                "Malfoy," Harry gritted through his teeth. "I promise, tonight will be a night that you will never forget!"

                "I'm counting on it," Malfoy said with a small nod. "Remember, the prefect's bathroom, at midnight!" He turned on his heal and headed back towards the rest of the class.

                Harry was doing all he could to contain his anger at that moment. "I'll be there Malfoy!" Harry said to himself. "And I'm gonna give you such a beating, that even your master will feel it!"

                After another few minutes passed by, a new thought entered Harry's head. 'I don't know the new password to the prefect's bathroom.'

                "Hermione," Harry said as he sat down next to her at lunch. "Could you tell me the password for the prefect's bathroom?"

                "Aren't you a prefect?" Hermione asked. "Shouldn't you already know it?"

                "It's a long story," Harry replied. "Could you just give it to me?"

                "Why do you want to know now all of a sudden?" She asked, giving Harry a suspicious look. "Are you up to something?"

                "No, of course not," Harry responded quickly. "I just want to know it, because I felt like taking bath in the prefect's bathroom tonight. All of the pressure from the wizard's duel is finally getting to me, and I really want to relax a bit."

                Hermione looked at him suspiciously for a minute and then said, "Harry are you sure you're being completely honest with me?"

                "Of course," Harry said.

                "You're not hiding anything from me are you?" She continued, still giving Harry her suspicious look.

                "Of course not," Harry said with sincerity in his voice.

                "Alright, I suppose you do have a right to know," Hermione gave in. She waived her hand, hinting Harry to come closer.

                Harry brought his hear next to Hermione and listened carefully.

                "The password is: 'canary'," Hermione whispered.

                "Thanks," Harry said. 

                He took some lunch and began eating in silence, concentrating on the duel with Malfoy once again.

                "Harry," Hermione spoke up, snapping Harry out of his thoughts.

                "Yes," He said, as he turned his head and faced her.

                "You were acting very strangely all morning today. Is something bothering you?"

                "It's nothing important," Harry said, brushing it off quickly.

                "If it's distracting you this much, I think it might be," Hermione said matter of factly. "Does this have anything to do with that memorichi thing that Ron was talking about?"

                Harry froze. With all that was going on, he had completely forgotten about memoritia, and the unicorn.

                Harry's face started turning pale as his stomach began to spin in circles.

                'How could I have forgotten!' Harry scolded himself mentally. 'On October thirty first, I have to go to that place. The unicorn said that the fate of the world is at stake, and I go ahead and risk everything on a stupid duel! How could I have been so stupid? How could I have been so careless? How could I forget?'

                "Harry!" Hermione cried, bringing his thoughts back to the present. "Are you alright?"

                Harry quickly nodded.

                "I knew it," she said triumphantly. "I knew it since I saw that look on your face that morning. It does have something to do with it. What is it Harry, you can tell me," she urged.

                "It's nothing important," Harry replied without thinking. "Really."

                "So!" Hermione said triumphantly again. "You know what this memorichi thing is, don't you?"

"No of course not," Harry said quickly, trying to regain some ground. 

"The other day you said you had no idea what Ron was talking about," Hermione said shrewdly. "Now you say that whatever it is, is not important. So that must mean that you know what it is."

Harry swallowed.

"Well," she urged. "What is it? If like you say, it's not important, you can tell me what it is, can't you?"

"Er… where's Ron?" Harry quickly said, desperately trying to change the subject.

"Ron's in the Hospital wing getting his foot examined, because the Pegasus accidentally stepped on his foot, and don't try to change the subject Harry," she said in one breath. "What is memorichi?"

"It's really nothing," Harry said. 

"Listen," he continued, getting an idea. "I can't tell you what it is because if I do, someone will get into a lot of trouble, okay?" And it was true. If Harry told Hermione about memoritia, then he'd have to tell her about the unicorn, and about the unicorns' special gift. The unicorn that shared his gift with Harry would probably end up in a lot of trouble if the other unicorns found that that a human with whom their brother shared his gift with was telling the world their big secret.

Hermione looked at him for a minute and saw that Harry was being sincere with her, and decided to drop the subject.

"Alright, I'll let you off this time, although I'm still going to try and find out what memorichi actually is?" she stated as she went back to her food. "I'm sure one of the books in the library has something about it."

Harry just nodded.

'Good luck,' He thought to himself. 'Although it will be really hard looking for something that does not exist. Luckily, Ron didn't pronounce it right.'

Hermione kept her word. During every break for the rest of the day, and after classes were over for the day, she would be in the library trying to find out what memoritia [or memorichi in her case] was. So far, she had not even come close to finding out. She even asked madam Pince, the librarian for help, but she was just a clueless as Hermione was.

Harry paid absolutely no attention to what Hermione was trying to do. He knew that Hermione would never be able to find it. 

A few days after Harry met the Unicorn Harry also tried to find out what memoritia was. He spent most of his breaks in the library trying to find out what it was before he finally had given up. "If I couldn't find it, then there's no way Hermione will find it. She doesn't even know how to pronounce it," he kept telling himself. 

"Besides, I have bigger problems now."

Harry was still worried about that evening's wizard's duel. Now, the stakes were much higher than before. If he died, then he would not be able to go to memoritia, if Malfoy died, he still wouldn't be able to go, because he'd probably be arrested the next day.

Harry's mind was set. He knew what he had to do. He had to find some way for him to win the duel without killing Malfoy.

He knew what he had to do, the only problem was, how would he do it? From the way Malfoy spoke to him that day, Harry suspected that Malfoy had absolutely no qualms with killing Harry, and he didn't seem at all afraid of losing his life.

'What is wrong with him this year?' Harry thought during his last class. 'He seems to be acting almost the same way that I used to act right before the beginning of this school year. He doesn't care about anything, or anyone. Not even himself. Does it have something to do with Voldemort?'

"Oh well," Harry said to himself trying to brush off his thoughts. "His problems are none of my business. The only thing I have to worry about is how to get through tonight's duel."

Harry's answer came to him during that evening's quidditch practice.

The entire evening Harry kept screwing up all of his plays, because he was too busy trying to think of a way to win the duel without killing Malfoy. So far he hadn't come up with any ideas at all. He was about to go back to his original idea of injuring himself, and rescheduling the duel for sometime after October thirty first. When all of a sudden, thanks to a little scolding from Angelina, a plan was formulated in Harry's head.

"Harry!" Angelina yelled, while flying at him, after he once again missed sight of the snitch in what would be an easy capture. "What are you doing? Why aren't you concentrating on practicing for our first game?"

"Sorry," Harry said in a low voice. "I just have so many things on my mind at this moment."

"Well get them out of your mind!" Angelina scolded. "If you play like this during our match against Ravenclaw, then we'll lose for sure!"

"Sorry," Harry said.

"How come we're playing Ravenclaw first this year?" Fred cut in. "Don't we usually play against Slytherin first?"

"The wizard's duel has completely messed up the schedules, "Angelina replied.

She turned back to Harry and said, "Concentrate Harry. Remember, we don't have an experienced keeper, so we'll need a quick catch. You must catch the snitch before the other teams seeker, _got it_," she said with an emphasis on the words 'got it', as if saying or else.

It was then that Harry thought of an idea of how to win the wizard's duel with Malfoy, without actually killing him.

"What did you say?" Harry cried.

"I said, that since we don't have an experienced keeper, so we'll need a quick catch," Angelina repeated.

"No after that," Harry said.

"I said-" Angelina started.

"Nevermind," Harry interrupted. "Thanks for you help." Harry turned, flew away, and caught the snitch in less than a minute later.

Angelina and Fred just stared at Harry for a minute, wondering why he was acting so weird that day.

"I knew it," Fred spoke up after a minute. "It's that badge. It's turned him from human to prefect. Percy started acting the exact same way before it got him."

Angelina laughed a little and continued with the quidditch practice.

"So did you find out what memorichi is?" Harry asked Hermione as soon a he found her in the common room.

"No," Hermione replied. "But you can rest assured that I will." She looked up and down Harry's wardrobe and said, "Aren't you going to change?"

"No," Harry answered. "I'm too tired. I'm going to wear my quidditch robes until I go to bed." The truth was that Harry never planned on taking his quidditch robes off that day, because he was planning on wearing them in his duel with Malfoy. They were light, warm, and comfortable, and he needed any advantage he could get in this duel.

"So are you ready to get started with today's tutorial," Hermione asked.

"Yeah," Harry nodded.

"Before we start," Hermione said. "Are you sure that you don't want to tell me what's been bothering you all day?"

"Don't worry about it," Harry reassured. "I found a way to take care of my problems."

"Good," Hermione said, while taking out an arithmancy book. "Let's get started with chapter six."

It was half past eleven when the second to last person left the common room. 

Harry was the last person in the common room that night. When Hermione and Ron asked him if he was going to bed, he simply told them that he was going to do some extra studying. Hermione offered to stay and study with him, but Harry convinced her not to.

Harry waited another fifteen minutes, and then after making sure no one was in the common room with him, he slowly crept up to his dormitory. He looked around checking to make sure that all of his roommates were asleep. After he saw that they were, he ran to his and started digging into his trunk. He knew that he was making a lot of noise rustling through his stuff, but he was confident that no one would wake up because of it. 'If they could sleep through Neville's snoring, then a little rustling won't wake them up,' He thought to himself.

After around two minutes of searching, he finally found what he was looking for. He took out what looked like an old and dusty looking little box. "This is my ticket out of this duel," Harry said to himself. He was about to put the box in his pocket when all of a sudden, a loud sound startled Harry and made him drop it on the floor. It was the sound of thunder coming from the outside. Harry looked around and realized that no one was awakened from the sound of the thunder, nor were they awakened from the sound of the box falling and hitting the floor. Harry slowly picked up the box and pocketed it.

He looked over to the window and realized that it was starting to rain outside.

"Just great," Harry whispered, with sarcasm in his tone. "What else can go wrong?"  

Harry quickly ran out of the room, not even noticing that the curtains on one of the beds was moving, nor hearing some rustling coming from that bed.

Harry left Gryffindor tower, and quickly dashed off towards the prefect's bathroom.

                On his way there, Harry saw Peeves drawing black mustaches on sleeping painting, so he was forced to hide behind a sleeping armor and wait for Peeves to leave.

                After waiting for a few minutes, he saw Peeves glide through a wall. That was his cue to make a break for it.

                "Canary," Harry said as he arrived at the entrance to the prefect's bathroom.

                As soon as the passage opened, a hand came from behind it a pulled Harry inside.

                "You're late!" Malfoy growled, as soon as Harry was inside and the door was closed.

                "I had a bit of trouble getting here," Harry said. He looked at Malfoy and saw that he was also wearing his Quidditch robes as well. 'Looks like I won't have much of an advantage after all,' he thought to himself.

"You idiot," Mafloy snarled. "Don't you know anything?"

                "What do mean?" Harry gritted through his teeth.

Malfoy turned to him looking utterly stunned. "You mean you don't know about the schedules?"

                "What schedules?" Harry asked looking completely confused.

                "The schedules that the teachers, ghosts, and the head boy and girl follow, when making their rounds in this castle! At around twelve fifteen this place will be crawling with teachers and ghosts passing through! Honestly Potter, how did you break the rules so many times without knowing such a simple thing?"

                'Thanks to a gift from my dad,' Harry thought to himself.

                "Well, anyway," Malfoy continued. "That's none of my business. We have to get out of here before any of the teachers show up." He opened the door checked if anyone was there, and signaled Harry to leave first. 

Harry ran out first, and waited for Malfoy to follow. Malfoy picked up the two nimbus 2001's that he brought and followed Harry.

The Bloody Baron, who they easily avoided by sneaking into an empty classroom until the Baron had passed, was their only interruption during their trip outside the castle.

As soon as they left the castle, they were both completely soaked by the rain, which was now pouring onto the earth.

Harry took out his wand, aimed at his glasses, and muttered, "_Impervious_." Immediately his glasses looked like they were glowing. This blocked all the water from fogging up Harry's glasses.

"I see Granger has taught you a few tricks," Malfoy said. "Come on, let's get this over with!"

They both ran on the soaked ground, all the way down to the quidditch pitch.

"This is it Potter," Malfoy said, as soon as they arrived. He pointed both brooms at Harry, and said, "Pick a broom."

"I have to fly this piece of junk?" Harry scoffed.

"Well, in case you win, you wouldn't want me to say that the only reason you won was because you had a better broom than me now would you?"

Harry took the broom on the right and said, "Where did you get the second one anyway?"

"It's my back up," Malfoy replied simply. "All seekers need a backup broom, just in case something happens to their primary one. I'm sure you have something else besides that Firebolt of yours, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Harry lied.

"Alright," Malfoy said. "Enough talk, what are the rules?"

Harry took the small box out of his pocket and slowly opened it. Inside it was the old golden snitch that Ron had given Harry for his birthday. "This golden snitch," Harry began to explain. "Whichever one of us catches it first, wins the duel."

Malfoy just stared at Harry for a minute and then said, "Potter, what the hell are you on! This is a _wizard's_ duel, not a _seeker's_ duel!"

"I know that," Harry replied. "We'll still do all the stuff that would be done in a normal duel, except that you don't win this duel until you actually caught the snitch. We can use any spell we want against each other, as long as it leads to one of us catching the snitch. 

"The only rule is, that you're not allowed to jinx the snitch, anything else goes."

Malfoy thought it over for a second, and said, "Fine. This way I'll prove that not only am I a better fighter than you, but that I am also a better seeker than you."

Harry just gave him a smirk. 'He fell for it,' he thought to himself.

"Just one thing," Mafoy started. "That thing looks kind of old. Where did you get it?"

"Ron gave it to me for my birthday this year," Harry answered.

"Weasley gave it to you!" Malfoy said sounding incredibly stunned. "Are you sure that thing could even fly?"

"Of course it can," Harry said, giving Malfoy a glare. "It belonged to Ron's older brother Charlie. He kept the snitch after winning his last quidditch cup at this school. He practiced with it these past few years in Romania. It's not as fast as the snitch we use in school games, but it is much more maneuverable."

"I'll believe that when I see it," Malfoy sneered.

Harry let go of the snitch, and both he and Malfoy watched it disappear somewhere in the rain. 'I hope I can find it in this darkness and rain,' Harry thought.

"Alright, let's begin," Harry said. He wanted to start the duel while he still had some idea of where the snitch was.

"Not so fast," Malfoy cut in. "Before we start, I would like for you and I to undergo a ceremony."

"Ceremony?" Harry looked at him strangely.

Malfoy dug into his pocket and took out a pocketknife. 

Harry's eyes widened as he took a step backward. 'What is he going to do with that?' Harry thought, as he pointed his wand directly at Malfoy.

"Relax Potter, I'm not going to kill you…yet," Malfoy drawled. "This is a tradition as old as time itself. I don't exactly know the history of it, but I do know that it is only undergone by two people, who are each others' greatest rivals."

Harry looked on, curious as to what Malfoy was going to do.

Malfoy took the glove of his left hand off and put it in his pocket. Then he rolled up his sleeve, and cut a line in his arm, right below the wrist. As soon as he removed the knife, blood could be seen oozing out of Malfoy's arm.

Harry was mortified by what he just saw. 'What the hell does he think he is doing!' he thought frantically.

Malfoy just smirked and said, "Your left arm please?" 

Harry's eyes widened a bit when he heard Malfoy say this. A lightning bolt shone behind Malfoy, and a great wave of thunder soon followed. But Malfoy hadn't flinched a bit. 'He's serious,' Harry thought to himself. Harry gave Malfoy a huge glare. 'Malfoy, I'll never back down to you!' Harry took off his glove, rolled up his sleeve and held his left arm out. 

Malfoy cut Harry's arm in the exact same way he cut his own. Although it hurt, Harry didn't show it. After Malfoy was done, he pocketed the knife and raised Harry's bloody arm upwards into a straight position. 

Harry kept his glare up the entire time.

What Malfoy did next completely surprised Harry, but he didn't show it. Malfoy raised his bloody arm up and crossed it with Harry's bloody arms. The two bloody cuts were rubbing against each other causing more blood to ooze out of each of their arms.

"There," Malfoy said while removing his arm. He took two cloths out of his pocket. He tossed one to Harry, and used the other to bandage his own arm. "Use that to bandage your arm."

Harry looked down at his cut, and looked back at Malfoy, keeping his glare on the whole time. "What the hell was that?" Harry growled.

"You and I have undergone the exchange of blood," Malfoy said slowly. "You and I are now blood brothers, rivals for all eternity." Another flash of lightning appeared, followed by the sound of thunder. "We each now carry a part of each other inside of us. In doing so, we have agreed that no matter where we end up, that we will meet and fight again, until one of us dies at the other's hand.

"Of course it won't be like that with you and I, because you're going to die tonight."

"Anyone ever tell you, you need professional help!" Harry growled.

Malfoy just smirked and said, "Let's get started. We'll walk to the end of the pitch, mount our brooms, fly across each other and then start the duel."

They each clenched a broom in their left hand, and held their wand I their right hand. They turned their backs to each other and started marching off to opposite ends of the pitch.

They were cold, wet, and almost blinded by the rain and darkness, but they were each determined.

'Dammit,' Harry thought to himself. 'Because of that stupid tradition, I completely lost sight of the snitch.' Harry looked up into the rainy sky hoping to catch even a glimmer of it. 'Dammit!' Harry looked back and saw Malfoy marching. 'Why is he so serious about this?' Harry wondered. 'He looks like he's really ready to die. What happened to him? 

'Is it possible that he wants to die?' 

Harry reached the end of the pitch, and mounted his broom getting ready to kick off. 'Oh well, that's not my problem. My only concern is getting out of this duel.'

Harry kicked off at the same time as Malfoy. They flew straight at each other until they were right by each other's side. Their eyes met for a second, right as they passed each other.

Malfoy turned his broom around, raised up his wand and yelled, "Stupefy!" Immediately a red beam of light headed straight for Harry.

'If you're going to start, might as well start big,' Harry thought. He raised his wand and yelled, "Protecto!" A blue wall appeared in front of Harry and easily blocked Malfoy's blast.

Malfoy ascended higher into the sky. Harry, who wasn't too interested in fighting with Malfoy started looking around for the snitch that he had set loose.

"Stupefy!" Malfoy yelled and sent a beam heading directly at Harry. 

Harry dodged the beam, and ascended just as high as Malfoy was. 'I'll never get the snitch with him bugging me! I'll have to distract him for a while!'

"Come Potter!" Malfoy yelled. "Let us take this duel to new heights! _Kazenio_!" Immediately a huge gust of wind appeared at the end of Malfoy's wand. The Wind surrounded Harry and started spinning faster, until it turned into a whirlwind. The whirlwind surrounded Harry and started to make his broom recklessly spin around in a circle. Harry gripped the broom as hard as he could, barely staying on as the whirlwind took Harry higher into the sky.

The whirlwind finally disappeared after a while. Harry started looking around frantically. 'Where's Malfoy?' Then he realized that he could no longer feel rain on his body. He looked around and realized that Malfoy's whirlwind took Harry so high up that he was above the rain clouds. He looked up into the sky and saw the many stars in the sky, and the full moon out.

Harry looked down and saw a beam of light heading from the rain clouds. Harry quickly dodged the beam. 'So much for my perfect plan.'

Harry pointed his wand at the clouds and yelled, "Impedimenta!" His beam was lost in the rain clouds. 'Did I get him?' Harry wondered. 'I hope he didn't fall off.' 

"Stupefy!" Malfoy yelled from behind Harry. 

Harry turned around and saw a beam of light heading from Malfoy's wand directly at him. With all his might he stirred the broom to his right and barely dodged the beam. 'Dammit! I'm not used to this broom. It's speed and reaction time is much slower than the Firebolt!'

"How do you like our new playing field Potter!" Malfoy called. "I thought it would be a nice change of pace from the rain!"

"Just shut up and fight!" Harry growled. "Impedimenta!"

The beam flew directly at Malfoy, and hit him.

Harry gave a small smirk, which was immediately turned into a gasp when he saw that the beam when through Malfoy. 

"That's right Potter!" Malfoy yelled. "I am an illusion!"

Just four other beings that looked exactly like Malfoy appeared. Two behind him, one on his right and one right above him. 

Harry was familiar with this spell. He read about it in the book that Hermione had given him for his birthday. It was the illusionary clones spell; a spell that made up to four illusionary copies of a person. All four copies would be under the control of the person who cast the spell. If a person were to make any more then four, they would all become unmanageable.

"Only one of us is real, can you guess which one?" They all yelled at the same time. They all raised their wands, pointed them at Harry, and yelled "Stupefy!"

Harry quickly ascended to his upper left barely dodging all the beams heading towards him.

All the Malfoys once again raised their wands and yelled, "Stupefy!"

Harry knew he'd never be able to get out of his ascension in time to dodge them all. He raised his wand and yelled, "Protecto!" His blue shield appeared and blocked all their blasts. It was pretty easy being that only one of them was real.

The Malfoys started spreading out again, once again trying to catch Harry in the center of a circle.

Harry using his superior flying skill was able to avoid being caught in a circle

He shot the impediment curse on them a few times, but they all easily avoided it. 

None of the Malfoys attacked even once the whole time they were trying to encircle Harry. Malfoy obviously didn't want to risk Harry figuring out which ones were the fakes.

Finally after a lot of useless flying the Malfoys raised their wands, and yelled, "Kazenio!" Once again, a whirlwind appeared, and was about to engulf Harry once again. 

Luckily, this time Harry was ready for it. He raised his wand and yelled, "Finite Incantetum!" and in a puff of smoke, the whirlwind disappeared. 

As soon as the whirlwind disappeared, Harry found himself being barraged by dozens of beams of light. He dodged most of them and used the protecto spell to block the others.

The Malfoys regrouped and flew together. They were starting to get into a 'V' formation.

'I can't keep doing this forever, I have to find the real one!' Harry thought frantically. "But how, they're way too fast for me to get a good look at them! And I can't make my own illusionary clones, because that would take up too much time!"

Harry ascended even higher. He looked up at the moon and back down at the Malfoys heading towards him.

'Of course! That's it!' Harry thought.

He immediately pointed the nose of the broom upward and started ascending at top speed. The Malfoys followed him, while shooting a curse every now and then.

'Almost,' Harry thought. 

Harry took a deep breath and held it there. 'Just a little more,' he thought to himself. By now, he was flying so high into the sky that the lack of proper atmosphere was making his nose bleed. 'Just a little more!' His ears began bleeding as well, when he finally looked down and saw that the Malfoys were slowing down, and one of them had a bloody nose and bloody ears. 'That's the real one. The lack of air has slowed him down,' Harry thought to himself as he raised his wand and took aim. 'Good thing I held my breath. Looks like Malfoy should've studied some more Muggle science!'

Harry aimed his wand at the real Malfoy. 'If I try to take him out the he'll probably just block it. I'll just use a spell he can't block!'

"Lumos Flarous!" He yelled. Immediately a blinding beam of light came out of the end of Harry's wand and hit Malfoy blinding him instantly.

Four of the Malfoys disappeared, while the one remaining yelled out, and covered his eyes.

Malfoy immediately descended as fast as he could. He was trying to get back into proper atmosphere, as well as buy some time until his vision returned to him.

By now, Harry had let go of his breath and realized how hard it truly was to breathe in this atmosphere. He descended after Malfoy, shooting a few impediment curses, which Malfoy was able to dodge.

As soon as they were just above the cloud Malfoy stopped, and turned to Harry's direction.

"Stupid move, Malfoy!" Harry yelled. He raised his wand and yelled, "Impedimenta!" A beam of blue light shot out of Harry's wand and headed directly for Malfoy.

"Protecto!" Malfoy yelled. And about a second before the beam hit Malfoy, his blue wall appeared and blocked the spell.

'No Way!' Harry thought frantically. 'He was completely blinded and he was still able to block that?'

Harry looked closer down and realized that Malfoy was just hovering there with his eyes closed.

'He's waiting for me to make a move until his vision returns to him,' Harry thought. 'He's obviously relying on his hearing.'

Harry raised his wand and yelled, "Expelliarmus!' A red beam shot out of his wand and headed towards Malfoy.

"Reflecto!" Malfoy yelled, and this time an invisible wall blocked Harry's blast. Malfoy was slowly able to open his eyes by now. As soon as he did, his mouth made a gasp. For what her saw was, a very blurry Harry flying right towards him. Harry was flying at top speed, and Malfoy knew that he was too close by now to dodge. The expelliarmus curse was obviously the distraction that Harry needed. Malfoy immediately prepared himself for impact.

However, the impact never came. The only thing that even brushed Malfoy was Harry broom, which slid between Malfoy's right arm and his body. 'Where's Potter?' Malfoy wondered.

He got his answer when he heard a loud thud behind him. Malfoy turned and was just able to catch Harry landing on his broom. Malfoy couldn't believe what he saw, Harry had jumped off of his broom, over Malfoy and landed back on his broom perfectly.

Without even turning around, Harry aimed his wand at Malfoy, and yelled, "Lacarnum Inflamoreau!" Immediately a few bluebell flames appeared and headed towards Malfoy.

Malfoy tried to move the broom out of the way as hard he could. He was just barely able to dodge some of the flames, but not all of them. His quidditch robes caught a few, and the end of his broom caught the rest; Malfoy didn't notice this however. Malfoy quickly removed his outer robe, before the fire could spread and threw it towards the rain clouds under him.

                Malfoy looked over at Harry, who had just as he turned around. "Not bad Potter!" Malfoy sneered. "But it's going to take a lot more than that if you want to beat me!"

                Harry didn't say anything, he just gave Malfoy a wicked smirk.

                "Why are you smiling Potter?" Malfoy demanded. After a second, he found out why. He was able to feel the heat on his back as the bluebell flames were starting to grow on the tail of his broom. "Nice trick Potter, but I already know how to deal with that!" 

                He aimed his wand at the end of his broom and yelled, "_Incisio_!" (the cutting spell) The part of the broom that held the bluebell flames was cut off and flew away harmlessly towards the rain clouds. "If that's the best you've got, you'd better quit now!"

                Harry knew that Malfoy was only bluffing; cutting off a part of his tail put Malfoy at a huge disadvantage. Now, he was unable to maneuver as well as he was before. With Malfoy in that condition, it would only be a matter of time before Harry was able to hit him with a curse.

                They both raised their wands, and fired a curse at each other at the same time. Harry shot the disarming spell, while Malfoy shot the stunning spell. The two beams connected in a brilliant display of light. For a second both Harry and Malfoy were stuck in a power struggle as each beam tried to overpower the other. They ended up bouncing away from each other into different directions.

                 Harry ascended higher, while Malfoy just stayed in one place getting ready for Harry's next attack.

                'Good thinking Malfoy,' Harry thought. 'Now that you can't maneuver as well as before it's only logical that you stay in one place and wait for me to make the first move. Luckily, I have a plan that will completely wipe out your little strategy!'

                Harry ascended right on top of Malfoy. He was about to take a nosedive, when a very cold feeling shot up his spine. 

                "No, not now!" Harry cried.

                His body started feeling very heavy as the cold feeling spread all over his body. His entire body went completely pale, as the voice that he hadn't heard for over a month now, came back. "_It's all your fault_," the voice whispered, spreading misery inside Harry's body with every single word. "_It's all your fault_," it whispered a little louder.

                "No," Harry said while shaking his head frantically. "I'm not listening, I'm not listening!"

                "_It's all your fault!_" the voice said, a little louder.

                "STOP IT!!!" Harry yelled at the top of his lungs, which almost caused him to fall off. He gripped the broom harder desperately trying to stay on, as he felt himself getting weaker and almost passing out.

                "_It's all your fault!_" The voice chanted even louder.

"IT'S NOT MY-"

"Thundora!" Malfoy yelled before Harry could finish. A lighting bolt shot out of his wand and flew directly at Harry.

Harry yelled out in pain as he felt the full blast of Malfoy's attack. He was forced to grip his broom with both hands in order to avoid falling. Since his wand was in his right hand and he didn't have time grip it properly, it ended up falling out of his hand.

'My wand!' Harry thought frantically. "NO!' He waived his right hand once, and the wand magically flew back to Harry. Harry caught it and was about to use a spell when the voice once again prevented him.

"_It's all your fault_!" The voice yelled this time.

"Nice trick Potter!" Malfoy scoffed. "But it won't save you!" He raised his wand and yelled, "Thundora!"

'I have to focus, or I'll die," Harry thought to himself. Harry had completely lost control of his lower body by now, and his upper body was so weak that he didn't have the strength to dodge the attack. "Protecto!" Harry yelled, producing a rather weak blue wall in front of him.

However, this blue wall did not stop Malfoy's lighting attack. Some of the lighting was blocked, but the rest just bounced around the wall and hit Harry. Harry yelled out in pain as he fell off his broom, hanging on with only his left hand. His glasses fell towards the clouds after the impact and everything became completely blurry.

"Like that Potter!" Malfoy sneered. "I knew that you would be able to block any old normal curse, that's why I used this one! Water conducts electricity and you're completely soaked. I knew that the lightning would move around your wall to find you!"

Harry wasn't listening to anything that Malfoy had said. His face was completely blank and expressionless. It was as if his mind was completely hollow. How he still managed to hold on, even he didn't know.

Just then, when things were already bad enough for Harry, they became much worse. "No, not Harry, Please!" A female voice cried.

"Mom, no," Harry mouthed.

"Out of the way, silly girl!" A high and dark voice growled.

"No," Harry mouthed again.

                Harry heard his mother's voice scream, and then he knew it. 'I'm going to die.'

"I want you to know that," another female voice said in Harry's head. "That I'll always be there for you."

Harry picked up his head and looked straight out into the sky. Only it wasn't the sky that he saw. What he saw was an image of a person. "Hermione," he mouthed. 

"Thundora!" Malfoy yelled, and sent another lightning bolt at Harry.

'I have to live! I have to come back home…to her!'

Harry raised his wand and yelled, "_Mizumus Protectus_!" 

Before the lightning could hit Harry, a wall stopped it. However, this time the lightning did not go around the wall. In fact, the wall absorbed the lightning. For the wall that Harry made was not an ordinary old magic wall.

"A water Barrier?" Malfoy cried. "Impossible!"

"Racco!" Harry yelled as he waived his wand and sent the electrically charged water barrier flying towards Malfoy.

Malfoy was so surprised by Harry's accomplishment, that he was only barely able to dodge the attack, by descending under.

Harry immediately pointed his wand to himself and yelled, "Swasso!" The electrically charged water barrier immediately replaced him, and Harry replaced the water barrier.

Harry appeared right on top of Malfoy, and as soon as he did, he fell on him. Malfoy didn't have time to move out of the way. Before Malfoy knew it, Harry was on top of him, holding his head in a headlock. Harry was holding it with his left arm as hard as he could.

"GET THE HELL OFF OF ME POTTER!" Malfoy screamed, as he was desperately trying to shake Harry off.

Harry held on as best as he could. He felt his grip loosening; he was losing strength; losing consciousness.

'I have to do something now!'

Harry pointed his wand straight at Malfoy face and yelled, "Stupefy!" With a flash of light, Malfoy was completely knocked out. 

Harry quickly discarded his wand and grabbed onto the broom with his right hand, while he held onto Malfoy with his left.

"_It's all your fault_!" the voice was back. Harry knew that he was going to pass out soon. He descended towards the rain cloud as fast as he could. He got under them and was once again soaked from the rainwater. His gloves became wet and holding onto the broom became even harder.

Harry once again heard his mother scream, and a sinister laugh followed.

Harry then lost his grip, fell off the broom with Malfoy, and completely lost consciousness before he even hit the ground.

A/n- Wow, that was intense, wasn't it? The next chapter is the chapter that you've all been waiting for. That's right Harry's finally going to go inside Memoritia-in the chapter entitled: "The Sins of the Fathers". R/r. 


	22. The Voice

Disclaimer-I do not own Harry Potter.

Chris: As I wrote before, I accept flames, only if a good reason or comment comes with them. So far you have just been making accusations and not giving an ounce of evidence to back it up. The Goblet of Fire is a story centered around the triwizards tournament, where Voldemort uses the tournament to achieve his plan. My story is nothing like that. The school wide wizards' duel plays a very small part in my story (if you haven't noticed already). My story is centered around spiral tower, memoritia, lost souls, and of course the sword of helios (you'll find out what that is later). Saying that my story is the same as the goblet of fire would be like comparing lord of the rings to gundam wing (both is a fight of good vs. evil, both have many wars with countless lost lives, and both have some sort of love story), and anyone would normally say that is ridiculous. Furthermore, if my story is that bad, THEN JUST DON'T READ IT! It's really not rocket science. Why would you want to read something so long if you don't even like it? I mean it's around 90,000 words for god's sake! 

A/n- Anyway, sorry for the long delay, but I had to keep rewriting the chapter, because I kept getting new ideas. Also I heard that JK's fifth book will be published sometime in June. I'm going to try my best to finish my story before that. This chapter was originally part of 'The sins of the Fathers', but it became WAY too long so I had no choice but to VERY RELUCTANTLY separate it. I'm almost done with 'the sins of the fathers'. Don't worry.

                                                                The Voice

                A very blurry face was the first thing Harry saw when he was finally able to open his eyes. Harry couldn't tell who the face belonged, nor could he tell what kind of expression was on the face.

                "Where am I?" Harry said weakly.

                No answer came from the face; the only thing Harry saw was two hands putting something on his face. A second afterwards, Harry was able to see everything clearly. Although what Harry saw made him wish that he wasn't able to see as clearly.

                He saw a very angry Ron looking down at him. Ron was standing right by the couch that Harry was lying on, with his arms crossed, and he was wearing a very angry scowl on his face.

                "Finally awake!" Ron snarled. "Did you have a nice rest!" 

                Harry tried to sit up, but fatigue had pushed him back down on his back. "What happened?" he asked. "What am I doing here?"

                "I was hoping you would be able to answer that for us!" Ron said angrily.

                "I don't really remember?" Harry said.

                "Well let me refresh your memory!" Ron started. "For some crazy reason, we found you and Malfoy, both falling off a broom, both wearing quidditch robes, with both your wands with you. 

"So what could that possibly mean?" Ron said sarcastically. "I know, you were both selling chocolate frog to the pigeons, and when they decided not to pay you, you tried to bully them with your wands, is that is?"

Harry just stayed silent.

"Of course that wouldn't explain why the snitch I gave you for your birthday is missing now would it?"

"Ron I can explain everything," Harry started.

"Don't bother," Ron interrupted. "I saw you sneaking out of the room with the snitch."

Harry slowly moved himself into a sitting position. "Ron I'm really sorry I lost it-"

"Oh you're sorry!" Ron snarled. "Well I guess that makes everything all better. You knew how important that present was to both me and Charlie, and yet you still took it and used it in a stupid gamble! Well I guess that shows how much I mean to you as a friend!"

"Ron I'm sorry," Harry said again.

"You know," Ron said in a low voice. "I know this may sound lame, but the reason I gave you such an important gift was because I thought of you as part of my family." With that Ron turned on his heal and left the common room. 

"Ron, wait!" Harry called after him. He jumped off the sofa and started to run after him but once again fatigue had gotten the best of him. 

"I wouldn't recommend running for at least another few hours," A voice said from Harry's left side.

Harry looked over and saw Hermione standing there wearing the same look that Ron was wearing. Harry picked himself up and slowly sat down on the couch, getting ready for whatever it was Hermione was about to lecture him about.

"So, for some crazy reason you thought it would be fun to have an unsupervised aerial duel with Malfoy," Hermione said angrily. 

"Something like that," Harry said in a low voice.

"Do you know that if Ron and I weren't there, you and Malfoy would probably be dead right now!" Hermione growled.

"Malfoy?" Harry said, looking up at Hermione quizzically.

"That's right both of you were falling towards the ground completely unconscious. I had to use the wind spell to slow both of you down."

'That's odd,' Harry thought to himself. 'Why was Malfoy unconscious? I remember him blasting me with a lightning bolt and then everything went blank. Why was he knocked unconscious?'

"Harry!" Hermione screamed, snapping him back to reality. "What were you thinking! Out of all the stupid things you ever did, this one takes the cake!"

"Hermione I-"

"Draco Malfoy," Hermione interrupted. "Is the son of Lucius Malfoy, who's probably one of you-know-who's chief commanders! 

"He could've had Crabbe and Goyle hiding in the bushes waiting to knock you off your broom the whole time! Honestly Harry what were you thinking! Do you really want to die that badly!"

"Hermione I had to do it," Harry cried. "If I didn't go, he was going to hurt Ron in the wizards' duel."

"Oh of course," Hermione shouted sarcastically. "You were doing this all for Ron!  It was a completely selfless act that you were doing! Great and mighty Harry Potter, always looking out for us little people! What would we do without him!"

"Hermione you know I didn't mean it like that," Harry said.

"Ron knew what he was getting himself into when he entered the duel," Hermione said angrily. "Believe it or not Harry, but Ron and I can take care of ourselves! We don't need you to hold our hand all the time!

"The worst thing that Malfoy could've done to Ron is cut off his legs, which Madam Pomfrey would be able to re-grow! You however, he could've killed, or taken to his master who would've probably given you a very special death."

"I," Harry started, but couldn't find the words to continue.

"Harry," Hermione said in a much lower voice. "It's okay if you don't care about losing your own life, but did you even for a second think about the rest of us. We would have to keep on living afterwards!" By now there were tears flowing from her eyes, and her voice was starting to break. "Did you even think about how we would feel if you died! What we would be forced to go through! Did you ever even consider our feelings about this whole thing!"

"Hermione, I'm really sorry," Harry said sincerely.

Hermione just her head and said, "No, you didn't, did you?"

Harry just looked down at the floor.

"You are the most selfish person I have ever met!" Hermione turned on her heal and started marching out of the common room.

Immediately an unknown feeling filled Harry's entire body. He didn't know why, but he couldn't allow her to leave, not like this.

"Hermione, wait!" Harry called as he started running after her. He caught up and grabbed her by her hand. "I knew all the reasons why I shouldn't go duel with Malfoy, but do you know the reason why I did?"

Hermione loosened herself from Harry's grip, looked him in the face and said, "As a very wise man once said, 'I don't give a damn!'" With that, she stormed out of the common room.

"Hermione, wait!" Harry called as he once again tried to give chase, but this time he was stopped. Not by fatigue, but by a very familiar cold feeling inside him.

"On no!" Harry gasped as the cold feeling started spreading throughout his entire body. "Not again! Not now!"

Harry fell down on one knee, unable to stand properly anymore as the feeling started to intensify.

"_It's all you fault," The voice started once again._

"NO…STOP!" Harry cried. "I…have to…fight it! Must…not listen!"

"_It's all your fault!" the voice said again._

Harry felt all of his strength fade as the voice continued talking.

"_It's all your fault!"_

Harry fell face first on the floor. "Who are…you? Why…are you…doing this…to me?"

"Harry, why are you doing this to me?" he heard Hermione's voice in his head once again.

"No, not Harry, please!" His mother's voice was back.

"You are the most selfish person I've ever met!" It was Hermione's again.

"_It's all your fault!" the cold voice again._

"STOP IT!!!" Harry yelled at the top of his lungs. Harry awakened and found himself on his knees tightly clutching his head with both hands, barely panting for breath.

He looked around and realized that he was no longer in the common room anymore. He wasn't even anywhere near the school. Instead he was in an all-too familiar place. It was the graveyard that he saw in his eyes.

"What is…going on?" Harry said through a few pants.

Before he could even get up, he started to hear some kind of sound coming from all the graves. At first it was so faint that he just dismissed it, but very soon the sounds started getting louder; until Harry was perfectly able to hear what the voices were saying.

"It's all your fault!" All of the voices were chanting together.

"No," Harry gasped. "Where am I! How do I get out of here!"

Using all of his strength Harry stood on his feet and tried to move, but his legs seemed to be stuck to the ground. Harry looked down and saw two hands sprouting from the ground, each holding onto one of his legs.

"No!" Harry cried, as he desperately tried to free his legs. "Let me go!"

"It's all your fault!" The voices continued to chant.

"Stop it already!" Harry yelled.

The hands started pulling Harry's legs inside the ground.

"NO," Harry cried, as he tried to get himself free. "Let me go! I never meant for this to happen!"

He was down to his waist in the ground by now. He tried using his arms to hold onto something, anything, but he was still sinking.

He was down to his neck. "STOP!!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

Immediately, everything went dark.

"How is he?" A gentle masculine voice asked.

"He is in stable condition," Another, more feminine (though not as gentle) voice answered. 

"Have you been able to find out what caused this?" The gentle voice asked.

"I'm afraid not," the feminine voice answered. "The fact is, that I was about to send him off to St. Mungos, when he finally started showing some life signs. I have never seen anything like this, so I'm afraid I won't be able to provide you with any answers."

"That is okay Poppy, you did your best and that is all that I ask of you."

'Poppy? Who is that?'

"Maybe Mr. Potter will be able to give us some answers when he wakes up?"

'Potter? Is that my name…yes it is. Where am I?'

"Or at least he will be able to shed a little light on his current situation. After all, no one really knows what he went through, except himself."

'What did I go through? I remember…it was very horrible…was it…'

"I agree."

"Hell?"  Harry said aloud as he opened his eyes.

Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey both looked down at the bed in which Harry was lying in.

"Harry, are you alright?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry slowly moved himself into a sitting position and said, "I think so?"

"You shouldn't be sitting boy," Madam Pomfrey quickly said, as she tried to lie him back down.

"That's okay Poppy," Dumbledore said as he held her back. "If Mr. Potter believes he has enough strength to sit up, then I trust him." He ended with dismissal in his voice.

"Very well then," Madam Pomfrey said. "I shall go check up on my other patients."

As soon as she left, Dumbledore sat down right beside Harry and asked him how he was feeling again.

"I think I feel alright," Harry answered. "There's really no need to worry."

"But I think there is," Dumbledore interjected. "If a person stays unconscious for seven days, that's usually a cause for concern."

"Seven days!" Harry gasped. "But how?"

"I was hoping that maybe you could tell me that?" Dumbledore requested.

Harry sighed and nodded.

"It all started during the summer. I don't know when exactly, but sometime during the summer I felt my entire body become very cold. And considering that it was the summer, and my Uncle Vernon would rather die than spend a cent on air conditioning for my room, I thought that was pretty odd. A few days later, I started having the same feeling again; only this time there was some kind of mysterious voice that came along with this feeling."

"Did the voice say anything?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes," Harry nodded. "It keeps saying one line: 'It's all your fault'. At first it was just a momentary thing, but as time went on, the voice became even stronger, and it stayed with me longer than just a moment."

Dumbledore nodded, signifying that Harry should continue.

"Now almost every time the voice comes back, it gets so bad that I pass out. In fact the last two times, I heard my mother begging Voldemort to spare my life." Harry tried to take control of himself as he felt himself breaking down. "I just don't know what to do anymore. I tried everything to take control of myself but nothing worked. I tried telling myself that the voice was just a figment of my imagination, I tried ignoring it, I even went as far as trying to speak with it. I don't know what else I can do. The voice just comes and goes whenever it pleases and leaves me…" Harry just sighed and shook his head.

 "Harry," Dumbledore said warmly. "Why didn't you tell me about this when you arrived?"

"The voice disappeared for a month, I thought it was gone forever," Harry answered. "But it came back with a vengeance.

"Professor?" Harry looked up at Dumbledore. "Do you think it could be Voldemort?"

Dumbledore shook his head and said, "I doubt it. Voldemort doesn't have that kind of power."

Harry looked at him quizzically.

"While you were in a coma, I noticed that your vital signs matched someone else's almost exactly."

"Who?" Harry asked.

"Barty Crouch Jr." Dumbledore answered.

A sudden horror struck Harry. "But Barty Crouch received the Dementor's kiss didn't he?" Harry said weakly.

Dumbledore nodded and said, "He did."

"So does that mean?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, you had the same signs as a soulless being. And I seriously doubt that Voldemort has the power to steal souls.

"However, the Dementors do have that power, and they also have the power to steal away any happiness a person might have, and leave him to dwell on his most miserable thoughts; all the signs that you seem to possess."

"How could this happen?" Harry said weakly.

"I don't know," Dumbledore shook his head. "Maybe it was because the Dementor almost administered the kiss on you. It might have left some kind of catalyst inside your head. A catalyst that could have been activated by the trauma that you experienced after the third task of the triwizard tournament?

"That is just a speculation of course."

"Professor," Harry said in a low voice. "If that voice comes back one more time, will it be able to take away my soul permanently?"

Dumbledore sighed and said, "Maybe."

Harry sighed and fell back into bed.

"However, I am going to do everything possible to make sure that that does not happen," Dumbledore said sharply.

"What can you do?" Harry asked weakly.

"There is a potion called the _mind blocking potion_," Dumbledore said. "It can stop all foreign influences from entering your mind. If I am right, and it is a foreign invader, then the potion will stop it for a while. In the meantime, I will study your condition until I can isolate the problem and come up with some kind of cure for you."

Harry looked up at Dumbledore's confident face and said, "What if it's not a foreign influence?"

Dumbledore sighed and said, "In that case I'm sorry, there is nothing I can do then; not with the amount of time we have. We'll just have to hope that it is some kind of catalyst. Otherwise…" Dumbledore just sighed and shook his head.

"Well, anything is worth a try, right?" Harry said.

"Yes," Dumbledore nodded. "Although, I will have to warn you, taking this potion won't be a very good experience."

"What do you mean, sir?" Harry asked, as he looked up at Dumbledore quizzically.

"Since the potion blocks all foreign influences, it will become a very heavy burden on your mind."

"What will that lead to?" Harry asked.

"Migraines, difficulty when it comes to concentrating, severe nausea. The worst of these will occur the morning after you take the potion. You will find that it will be a huge burden even getting out of bed, and walking over to the bathroom. That is why I recommend you start taking the potion on a weekend. That way you will allow yourself a whole days rest, although I'm not sure how much rest you will have exactly."

"When you say on a weekend," Harry cried. "You don't mean-?"

Dumbledore reluctantly nodded. "Yes, I mean every weekend."

Harry fell on his pillow and closed his eyes.

"And," Dumbledore reluctantly added. "If I don't find a cure for you soon, your body will start metabolizing the potion quicker, which will mean that you'll have to take it more than once a week. But I'm sure it won't come to that."

Harry just silently nodded. "Don't tell Ron or Hermione about this please. I sure they must be worried enough by now."

Harry once again moved himself into a sitting position. "By the way, where are they? I want to tell them I'm just fine."

"I'm afraid, I do not know," Dumbledore said.

Harry started getting out of bed. "Well maybe I should go look for them, they were probably pretty upset when they saw me unconscious."

"Actually, according to Madam Pomfrey, the only ones who came to visit you were the Creevy brothers and young Miss Weasley."

Harry was immediately struck down with shock. He once again sat down on his bed, and looked directly at Dumbledore's face. "Neither Ron, nor Hermione visited me even once in all seven days."

"That is what Madam Pomfrey had told me," Dumbledore said. "I'm sorry." Dumbledore got up and headed towards the door. "I will tell professor Snape to start on a mind blocker potion. It should be ready by this evening. You'll take the potion tonight and this Friday. I will excuse you from all classes tomorrow, as it will probably be a very difficult day." With that Dumbledore left the room.

Harry fell back on his bed and started staring up at the ceiling. 'I can't believe that they didn't come to see me even once. I might be able to expect this from Ron, he was always a prat, but I would never expect this from Hermione.' Harry turned over to his left side. 'Some friends, I would come see them, even if I was angry with them.' Harry made a scowl. "Who needs them! After all the things I've done for them, how could they treat me like this?" Harry sighed, and slowly rolled onto his back once again. 'Maybe they're angrier than I thought?' 

Dumbledore ended up being right. The next day truly was one of the worse experiences Harry ever had. The second he opened his eyes the only thing he wanted to do was close them again. His head was pounding; his stomach was aching with nausea, and his entire body felt extremely fatigued. When his nausea ended up getting the best of him, he tried to get out of bed to walk over to a bathroom, but instead he ended up vomiting all over the floor next to his bed. Harry remained that way for the entire day.

But as bad as he felt from the potion, he felt even worse when Hedwig flew into the hospital wing and dropped a letter on his bed.

It turned out to be a letter from Sirius. It read:

_Harry,_

_What the hell did you think you were doing! Hermione wrote me and told me about you __midnight__ duel! Are you insane! Going off on an unsupervised wizards duel with the son of a death eater! Do any of my warnings penetrate that thick skull of yours! I told to beware him, and instead you let him get to you when you are most vulnerable! He could have had his Slytherin friends waiting to pick you off the entire time! _

_I am very disappointed in you Harry! How could you do such a thing! Did you think about your parents when you went off to fight Malfoy! They sacrificed their lives just so you could have an opportunity to live! And what do you do with that opportunity! Risk it on some stupid schoolboy grudge! _ 

_                I have sent a letter to Dumbledore revoking my permission to allow you to go on anymore Hogsmeade visits. If by Christmas vacation, I hear that you are doing well, I will once again allow you to go visit Hogsmeade. However, if I hear that you even put a toenail out of line, then the ban will become permanent. And don't you even think about sneaking out, because if I find out that you did, I'll tell Dumbledore about the secret passageways, and you'll end up being in even more trouble. _

_                Behave yourself and study hard._

_                                                                                                                Sincerely,_

_                                                                                                                Snuffles._

                Although Harry was upset about not being able to visit Hogsmeade anymore, he was more upset about the things that Sirius wrote before. 

                Harry remembered what Hermione had said to him on the morning after his duel. 'She was right,' he thought to himself. 'I didn't think about anyone but myself. I didn't think about the Weasleys, or my parents, or Sirius, or her. All I cared about was evening the score with Malfoy. Ron was just an excuse for going.' He looked over the letter one more time. 'Ron and Hermione were right to dump me as their friend. I don't deserve to have any friends!'

                He turned the letter over and saw a PS there which really caught his eye. All it said was 'Happy Halloween', but to Harry it meant more than just that. 

It brought back the memories of the Unicorn, and the task that he was given. To sneak out of school and go to a place called Memoritia. A place he knew nothing about.

                It only made him feel worse. Sirius wrote him telling him about not to go out of line anymore, and here he was about to break another very important school rule the very next day.

                Harry stayed up for many hours thinking about what he should do. He read the letter at least another ten times.

                "Alright," Harry said, after many hours of thinking. "I am going to do what I should've done a long time ago. I'm going to ask Dumbledore about Memoritia. Then, I'll decide what to do." 

A/n- Sorry I had to break it up, but 'The sins of the fathers' was just WAY too long. Don't worry, I am almost finished with it. Believe me, it'll be a chapter you don't want to miss.


	23. The Sins Of The Fathers' Part I

Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter.

A/n-I'd like to thank all those of you who reviewed my story. Here it is: The Sins of the Fathers, part I.

                                                                Chapter 23

                "Professor, I need a favor from you."

                Dumbledore looked up from his crystal ball and saw Harry barging into his office. He quickly waived his right hand over the crystal ball, making the figure inside it disappear. 

                "Harry," Dumbledore said, looking surprised. "What are you doing here, shouldn't you be at lunch."

                Harry quickly walked over to his desk, looked Dumbledore straight in the eyes and said, "This is more important." 

                Dumbledore looked down at his crystal ball, then back up at Harry.

                "Besides, I'm still a little nauseous, thanks to that potion you gave me," Harry added.

                "I'd love to help you Harry, but now isn't a very good time," Dumbledore finally spoke up. "I was in the middle of a very important conversation, plus the teachers want me to help with the Halloween decorations. Can we reschedule for tomorrow maybe?"

                "I really need to know about this now," Harry said. "Please."

                Dumbledore sighed once, and nodded. "Very well, but let's make this quick," he said.

                "I'd like to tell me all about Memoritia," Harry said, getting straight to the point. Normally he would probably start the conversation with something else. He would ask how Dumbledore was feeling, or tell him about his experience with the potion, or even ask him about Voldemort; but not this time. Harry was supposed to leave this evening to place he knew nothing about, and he was determined to get as much information about it as he could.

                "Why would you want to know about that?" Dumbledore asked, giving Harry a penetrating stare. 

                "It's very important," Harry said. "Please trust me."

                Dumbledore nodded and said, "Alright."

                He got up, walked over to the bookshelf in his office and started looking through the many books that were there.

                "A long time ago," he said, while he was searching. "There was an explorer named Sebastian Toah. He traveled to many lands trying to find out all about the different types of magic's in the different continents. After a trip to Africa, he came back to Europe and wrote a poem, entitles: 'Memoritia'."

                Dumbledore picked a book off the shelf, opened it to a certain page and placed it on the table so Harry could see it.

                Harry looked down at the book, and sure enough, the poem that Dumbledore was just talking about, was right there on the page. It read:

_Tears of god_

_                Breath of Ragnorak_

_                Alone and forgotten the precious ones lay_

_                Protected and trapped_

_                For alone they must stay_

_                For if disturbed, harmed, or saw_

_                The disturber, harmer, or seer_

_                Will become a precious one_

_                Alone and forgotten_

_                Protected and trapped_

_                In the breath of Ragnorak_

_                In the tears of god._

                "So what does this mean?" Harry asked, as he looked up from the poem.

                "I have no clue Harry," Dumbledore responded. "I heard that ever since Sebastian returned from Africa, he became a bit of a kook. After he wrote the poem, he lost his mind completely. Because of that, many people disregarded this poem, as a hallucination of mind."

                Dumbledore picked up the book and looked over the poem again. "I however believe that there is a fine line between genius and insanity, and I believe that he crossed this line after writing this poem."

                "But you have no idea what it means?" Harry asked.

                "Absolutely none," Dumbledore said.

                Harry nodded and said, "Thank you." He turned on his heal and was about to leave, when Dumbledore stopped him.

                "Wait Harry," He called. "Why did you want to know about this poem so much?"

                "I'll tell you, when I find out," Harry responded. "Good bye." With that he left his office, and headed straight to his next class, leaving a confused Dumbledore behind.

                Harry waited until everyone left the common room before he snuck out of the castle. It didn't take long, being that everyone wanted to go the Halloween feast so badly.

                Harry waited a half an hour before actually leaving the common room. He wanted to make sure that he wouldn't run into anybody on his way out of the castle. That and the potion that he took two days ago, was giving him a temporary migraine at the time.

                Harry didn't encounter anyone in the halls while heading out of the castle, not even the ghosts. 'They must all be at the Halloween dinner,' Harry thought.__

                The stars were shining beautifully that night. The moon glowed brightly, and the weather was perfect. It wasn't warm, but it wasn't cold either. It was kind of unusual this time of the year for Hogwarts, but Harry wasn't complaining.

                "There he is," Harry said to himself as he approached the forbidden forest. He saw a white light shine from within the forest, and automatically knew that that light belonged to the unicorn.

                'You are late!' The unicorn chastised as soon as he saw Harry.

                Harry frowned a little. 'I had to make sure not to get caught.'

                'Come,' the unicorn said in Harry's mind. 'We have much that we need to do.'

                'Where are we going?' Harry asked.

                'I told you, we are going to a place called memoritia.'

                'I know that. What I meant was; what is memoritia? I've never heard of it. And is it really here in school.'

                'No it is not.' The Unicorn said, as he started walking into the forbidden forest. 'It is in a different realm. There are only three known entrances to that realm from this one. One of them is here.'

                'Does anyone else know about this 'other realm'?' Harry asked as he started following the unicorn.

'Many unicorns and centaurs know of it, but I am not sure if the humans know.' The unicorn answered. 'However, it may be possible that the ones who made the school knew about it. Maybe that was why they decided to build the school here. We may be able to find out about that tonight.'

                Harry nodded.

                'Can I ask you something else?' Harry asked.

                The unicorn mentally sighed. 'What is it?' He said, with what seemed like distaste.

                'Do you have a name I can call you?' Harry asked.

                'Call me what you whatever you wish!' The unicorn mentally growled.

                Harry made a small leer. "Yeah, and there are something's I'd like to call you right now," Harry mumbled to himself.

                The unicorn sighed again. 'My peers call me Karwyn,' He said.

                'Karwyn? Okay.'

                The two walked in silence for nearly two hours, when Karwyn finally stopped and turned his face towards a rather large tree.

                'We are here,' he said.

                Harry looked around for a second. 'Where?' He asked. 'I don't see anything.'

                'Look towards the direction that I am facing,' Karwyn responded.

                Harry looked at the tree. 'I still don't see anything.' 

                'Those that do not know of this location, do not believe it exists. Look harder, and believe that the entrance is here, and you will see it.'

                Harry narrowed his eyes and concentrated on the tree. 'I still don't see anything,' Harry mentally sighed.

                'Well it doesn't matter, it is there. Just walk through the center of the tree, and you will be taken to the forgotten realm.'

                ''Forgotten realm'? Is that what it's called?' Harry asked.

                'Yes,' Karwyn responded. 'Now, we must move quickly, we do not have much time left.'

                'Okay,' Harry nodded. He looked over to the center of the tree, took a deep breath and started to walk towards it. 

                "This is just like platform nine and three quarters," Harry said to himself as he came closer to the tree. 

                Harry closed his eyes held his breath as he approached the entrance. He continued walking expecting to hit the tree, but he never did. Instead, all he felt was a very bright light flashing in his eyes. He opened his eyes for a second to see where he was, but because the light was so bright, he was once again forced to close his eyes.

                'Karwyn? Are you there?' Harry mentally called out.

                'I am right beside you,' Karwyn responded.

                'I can't see a thing, what is this light, and what am I supposed to do? Where exactly am I supposed to go now,' Harry asked.

                'This is a field of lost souls trying to escape the forgotten realm, and get into your realm. Because there are so many of them at the same place, you see an extraordinary amount of light. Just walk straight and you'll get out soon.'

                'Lost soul?' Harry questioned as he started walking. 'That phrase is so familiar to me, but for some reason, I can't remember what it means.'

                'A lost soul, is a soul that is forced to wander the earth, eternally suffering. They can never find peace, they can never feel warmth; the only that they can do is, remember the most painful feelings that they experienced in life, and mentally experience those horrible experiences in their mind, over and over, and over, for all eternity. It is the worst thing that can happen to anyone.'

                'How come there are so many here?' Harry asked.

                'That is what we are going to find out,' Karwyn replied. 'You can open your eyes now,' he added.

                Harry slowly opened his eyes. There was still a lot of light, but it didn't hurt his eyes anymore.

                Harry and Karwyn slowly walked to the edge of the light.

                'This is it,' Karwyn said. 'The second we step out of this light, we will be in the forgotten realm, get ready.'

                Harry nodded and took out his wand.

                'You won't need that,' Karwyn said.

                'Why not?' Harry looked over at Karwyn quizzically.

                'Try to use it and find out for yourself.'

                Harry waived the wand, muttered a few words, and nothing happened.

                "That's odd," Harry said to himself. He tried one more time, and once again nothing happened.

                'What's going on?' Harry asked. 

                'There are so many lost souls in the forgotten realm. And having so many in one place interferes with magic, and therefore negates it,' Karwyn informed.

                'So I can't use any magic?' Harry said, sounding mentally shocked.

                'I'm sure that there are some parts of the forgotten realm where the lost souls are not so many. You will be able to use some magic there, but it will probably be very weak.'

                'So what you're saying is-'

                'Enough talk,' Karwyn interrupted. 'We have a long way to go, let's stop wasting time and start moving already!'

                'Fine.'

                The moment Harry stepped out of the bright light, he was immediately struck down by the immense cold of the forbidden realm. After being in the forbidden realm for a second Harry started shivering. He put his arms around himself trying to stay warm. The temperature there felt like it was nearly twenty below zero, and all Harry was wearing was his Hogwarts robes and a cloak. What made it even worse the rain that was falling down on the ground, and completely soaking Harry's entire body after only a few seconds. Harry put his hood on, but that didn't help protect him from the rain at all. For this rain wasn't like the one he was used to in England. This rain fell at three times the speed and about five times the abundance, as in England. It felt more like you were standing under a waterfall, than under the rain.

                'I think we came at a bad time!' Harry mentally shouted, trying to drown out the incredibly loud sound the rain was making.

                'It's never a good time here,' Karwyn replied. 'It rains eternally!'

                Harry's eyes widened a bit. 'Why didn't you tell me this before? I would've brought an umbrella or something!' 

                'It must have slipped my mind,' Karwyn replied, with a hint of satisfaction in his [mental] voice. 'Come on! Get on my back, I will take us to memoritia.'

                Harry slowly climbed onto Karwyn's back. 

'Hang on tight,' Karwyn said, as soon as Harry climbed on. 

'Hang onto what?' Harry asked.

However, before he could get an answer, he was thrown back. Karwyn took off at a blinding speed, almost knocking Harry off his back. Harry barely managed to put his arms around Karwyn's neck, to keep from falling off.  

Harry had always wondered what it would be like to ride a unicorn. He always heard a lot of stories (mostly from girls), about how fun, and exciting it is. However, now that Harry actually experienced it, he confirmed that everything he was told, was a lie. Karwyn went so fast that Harry had to hold on with all of his strength, just so he wouldn't fall off. The ride was very bumpy, and Karwyn made at least three swift turns, which almost threw Harry off. Aside from that, the rain was falling on Harry's face, and the cold wind was blowing hard, making Harry's face completely numb. The ride last for about two hours, which in Harry's opinion, were the longest two hours of his life.

'There it is,' Karwyn said as made an abrupt stop in front of a cave.

Harry thankfully got off and faced the direction of the cave. 'Is this it?' He asked.

'Yes let's go,' Karwyn replied as headed inside the cave. 

Eager to get out of the rain, Harry followed Karwyn inside.

'By the way, thank you for making the ride so smooth,' Harry said sarcastically.

'If you want to blame someone for your discomfort, then I suggest you blame yourself. You came late, and then you wasted even more time with your silly questions. I had to go faster to conserve time,' Karwyn retorted.

Harry gave him a small glare.

'Anyway, lost souls are not permitted in here, you will now be able to use all the magic you want,' Karwyn informed.

Harry immediately dug out his wand and made some bluebell flames in front of him. He put away his wand came closer (a little too close) to the fire.

'Let's go,' Karwyn said, after letting Harry warm himself up for about two minutes. 'We do not have anymore time to waste.

'Alright,' Harry said.

"Lumos." The tip of Harry's wand lit up giving him a little light. 'Lead the way.'

Harry and Karwyn walked around in the cave for a few minutes before they arrived at a lake. Only this wasn't a normal lake. This lake looked silver. Harry looked at the water. "Pensieve?" He said slowly.

'Memoritia is across this lake,' Karwyn said, snapping Harry out of his thoughts. 'Use your magic to get across. Be careful though, if you fall in this lake, then you will be forever lost in memories.'

'Right,' Harry nodded. 'Here I go.'

"Kazenio!" Harry shouted. A small whirlwind appeared around Harry's feet and picked him up off the ground. 'I'll see you soon,' Harry said.

'Don't worry about that, I will be with you mentally,' Karwyn replied.

'Right.' Harry stirred the whirlwind across the lake.

The lake was much longer than Harry had expected it to be, but Harry was able to make it across safely. 

Harry walked for a few more minutes, until he spotted what he was searching for; He saw a white light emanating from what looked like a wormhole. "This must be it," Harry said to himself. "This must be memoritia."

Without a second thought Harry quickly jumped inside the wormhole.     

Harry slowly opened his eyes, and started looking around his new surroundings. He was surprised when he saw exactly where he was. He was standing in front of, what looked like a podium, and beneath him a few thousand men and women were seated.

"Er…sorry, but…I really don't know how I got here, and I'll get off right now," Harry started stuttering.

None of the people in the room made a sound.

Harry frowned for a second. "Hey! Can anyone hear me?" Harry yelled out.

Still no one answered.

'This is just like that time with the pensieve,' Harry thought to himself. 'This place must be some kind of memory.' 

Immediately the groups' attention turned to the left side of the podium. Harry looked over to see what everyone was staring at, and saw a young well built man, no older than twenty walking over towards the podium. He had short blond hair and was wearing a red suit and white pants. Everyone in the room stood up and saluted the man.

'He must be someone really important,' Harry thought as he continued to closely watch the man. 'He seems really young though.'

"Hello," the man said gently. "Please be seated."

Everyone in the room quietly sat down.

"What is going on here?" Harry thought out loud.

The man at the podium pushed a button and immediately a giant holographic image appeared in front of the podium.

'Wow!' Harry thought. 'These guys have really advance technology.'

"I'm sorry to say," the man began. "That the enemy has captured _Spiral Tower, the last magical monument of our modern world."_

The holograph immediately started showing a picture of an old and very large tower. 

"That tower!" Harry cried. "I remember seeing it before. When Karwyn was taking me to here. I saw that tower. Only it was covered in fog at the bottom."

Harry cupped his face and started thinking. 'Is there a connection?'

"If we give our enemy any more time, then their mages will be able to harness all the magic that spiral tower has," the man continued. "And if they are able to do that…" The hologram of Spiral Tower started shrinking, until it was nothing more than a dot on the globe of the earth. The dot that was Spiral Tower started glowing, while the rest of the earth started decrepitating. "Then the whole world is doomed to an eternal winter."

The hologram disappeared. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have been fighting this war for three long and hard years. Throughout this time many innocent civilians have suffered. As the king of the world, I am able to feel their pain. The pain of parents who had to bury their children; the pain those that died; and the pain of our enemies, who like us, are just fighting for what they believe in. 

"And even with all of this pain inside of me, I am still forced to ask you this. 

"This is the most crucial battle that we will ever fight. There will be many casualties. So before I send you off to war, I must ask you-" The king looked at his people for a second. "Are you willing to give up your lives, for your people?"

Immediately, every single man and woman in the room stood up and saluted the king.

The king smiled and chuckled a little. "Thank you."

"So that man is the king, and he's sending his people off to war?" Harry said.

Suddenly the entire room started fading away.

"What's going on?" Harry cried. "Am I going into another memory?"

The room started fading faster, and started being replaced by a different one. Only this time, it wasn't a regular room.

Harry immediately bundled himself up from the coldness of the new location. He looked around and realized that his new location was a maze that was made completely out of ice.

The walls were very high, there were many sets of stairs, leading to empty black holes; some of them were even upside down. Harry had no idea where he was. 'Am I supposed to get through this maze?' He thought to himself.

'Precisely,' a voice said in Harry's head.

'Karwyn!' Harry mentally called out. 'Is that you?'

'Yes,' Karwyn answered. 'I have been monitoring your progress all this time.'

'Could you hold one a second?' Harry took out his wand and made a few bluebell flames to warm himself up. 'Okay, now can you tell me what that was all about?'

'Just now, you and I were in a memory,' Karwyn replied. 'This is an ancient civilization that lived millions of years ago. They had many powerful magicians, and some of the most gifted scientists.'

'No wonder their technology seemed so advanced?' Harry commented.

'Yes it was. Their technology and magical powers were far superior to what we have now. Unlike the foolish humans we have today, the humans back then were able to co-exist with themselves and with their environment without any problem. They had long ago outlived energy sources that polluted their planet and were enjoying many years of prosperity. They were kind to all creatures, from the tiny ant, to the powerful dragon. They were never prejudiced by mere physical appearances or capabilities of others. They simply combined all their talents, and used them for the benefit of-'

'Okay, okay,' Harry interrupted. 'I see what you're trying to tell me. How do you know all that anyway?'

'Because I saw the memories of the king.'

'You…saw…his memories?'

'Yes, that is the true power of memoritia; to see any memory you want, even the memories of things yet to come.'

'But how is that possible?' Harry asked.

'I do not know, but maybe we can find that answer in one of the memories here.'

'Can I ask you a question,' Harry started.

'Make it fast.'

'The tower that I saw on the holographic projector looked exactly like the tower that I saw on the way here. If they had a Spiral Tower there, and I saw the same tower here, then does that mean-'

'Yes,' Karwyn interrupted. 'This is what has become of their glorious world, and all the lost souls you see here, are what's left of their people.'

Harry face turned white from shock. 'NO, HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?'

'That is what we came here to find out, let's move further.'

Harry took a moment to calm down. After he was feeling a little more composed, he looked around the giant ice maze. 'Where am I supposed to go?' Harry asked. 'There are so many stairs and passageways.'

'Open your mind, and trust that the memories will guide you.'

'Easy for you the say,' Harry remarked. 'You're not the one freezing.'

'Enough talk, you must go quickly! Take the stairs to your left!'

Harry look over at the stairs. 'They lead to a black hole,' He said.

'Not a black hole, a memory.'

'Okay,' Harry said. 'I trust you Karwyn.'

'One more thing,' Karwyn said. 'If you see the king, concentrate on his sword. Use all your will to keep every inch of that sword in your memory.'

'Why?'

'Trust me.'

'Okay.' Harry ran up the stair (carefully so he didn't slip on the ice), and as soon as he came close to the black hole, the entire ice maze started to fade away. It was quickly replaced by another memory.

Harry found himself in front of an army of hundreds of thousands (maybe even millions) of men and women. He looked around and once again saw the king in front of the army. 

"Today is the day, that we will take back Spiral Tower form the people of outer space!" The king shouted. "They have been living in space so long that they have forgotten who gave birth to them in the first place! Mother earth, our mother, their mother, and the mother of every living creature, has become nothing more to them than a means of achieving their twisted ambitions! I ask you, how many of you would let your mother die?"

The army started chanting and hailing.

"Then let us set out, to defend our mother from our brothers; but do not forget, that they are our brothers, be careful!"

"Hail, king Helios!" The army chanted.

"I am sending them to their deaths," the king said to himself.

The army started marching away from the king. Some got into fighter planes, others into giant tanks (or at least that's what it looked like to Harry, the technology was so advanced that he did not understand what some of the weapons were).

"Sire," a man of around twenty, said as he appeared in front of the king. "Our men seem willing, but will their might be enough to stand against the mages of the enemy?"

"I will lead our own army of mages and deal with theirs," the king responded.

The young mans eyes widened when he heard this. "But sire, you are the king-"

"And as the king," the king interrupted. "I serve the people, they don't serve me. A leader who is willing to sacrifice his people, but is not willing to sacrifice his own life, is nothing more than a butcher, remember that general."

The young general looked into the king's eyes for a minute and then said, "You're doing this because of Theolis aren't you?"

The king sighed and said, "I am doing this for my people; but you must understand, Theolis was my best friend. It is just very hard to bear, knowing that he is the leader of the enemies."

"San jo chinsi ki," the young general said. "O ni ye ni chinsi ki."

"Sori," the king responded.

Harry was completely surprised. Not by the fact that the two people were speaking in a different language; they were a completely different civilization, Harry even expected them to speak a different language. What he was surprised by, was the fact that he could understand everything they just said.

The General said: "You be careful, and I will also be careful." 

And the king responded by saying: "Good luck."

"What is going on here!" Harry cried. 

'Karwyn, is there an explanation for this?'

'Explanation for what?' Karwyn asked.

'Why can I understand their language?'

'You mean you understood what they said?' Karwyn asked with what seemed like shock in his mental voice.

'Yes,' Harry responded. 'Didn't you?'

'No I didn't,' Karwyn said. 

He sighed once and said, 'Don't worry about it though, I doubt we'll ever figure this out if we try to think about it, just remember to keep your concentration on the king's sword when he uses it.'

'Right,' Harry nodded. "But why is it that I can understand a completely different language. A language that I never even heard of?"

Harry looked around and saw the king heading inside of what seemed like a large dome. "Well, if I want to concentrate on the king's sword, I'll have to follow the king," Harry said to himself as he followed the king inside the dome.

The king [along with Harry] stepped inside an elevator, and pushed the button for the top floor. In mere moments the elevator stopped and opened its doors. Harry stepped out and realized that he was standing outside of the dome. Harry looked around some more and realized that he was thousands of feet from the ground. He was able to see clouds right beside him. 'Wow! Their technology is really advanced.'

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The king called out. Harry looked around and saw the same group of people that he saw in the previous memory. The only difference was the way they were dressed. In the previous memory, they all had nice suits and dresses on; here, most of them were wearing robes, and had staffs in their hands. 

'Are they the mages that the king was talking about before?' Harry wondered.

"The first attack wave is heading out, but as we all know they will not stand a chance against the mages. Their battle will be a diversion for us to knock out their mages. If we are successful, then we may win back Spiral Tower, and turn this war back in our favor. This will be a very dangerous mission, but I am confident we will succeed, because we are fighting for our planet, and our people! Remember that you are fighting for your loved ones, and you will never be defeated!"

All the people there started cheering.

"Let's move out!"

The king and all the mages started hovering higher into the air.

"Hey wait for me!" Harry shouted. He took out his wand and was about to cast a wind spell, when he noticed that he too was hovering after the king.

The king and all the mages stopped in front of what looked like metal boards (one mage in front of each board). 'What are these things?' Harry wondered.

"Have you rigged the jet boards like I asked you to?" The king shouted.

"YES SIR!" All the mages responded enthusiastically.

The king and all the mages stepped onto the jet boards. Most of them got down on all fours, while other kneeled down on the boards.

"Then let's go!" The king shouted.

Immediately, the back of all the jet boards started to ignite, and the boards started soaring through the air with blinding speed. 

"We will take the long way around the battle!" The king shouted. "That way, we'll get there after the battle has started!"

"YES SIR!" All the mages responded.

The king and all the mages directed their jet boards lower towards the clouds.

"Here they come!" The king shouted as he saw a few fighter plane headed in there direction.

The plains started firing what looked like some kind of laser beams towards the king and the mages. The king and the mages directed their jet boards away from the fire.

One of the male mage waived his staff and a black fog came from his staff and headed towards where the plains were. The lasers immediately stopped firing. 

A female male waived her staff and sent a huge fireball towards the direction of the black fog.

The king and all the mages directed their jet boards even lower to keep them safe from what was about to come.

As soon as the fireball connected with the fog, it erupted into a huge explosion.

"That takes care of them!" The female mage shouted.

"There were too few of them to compromise a full attack!" A male mage shouted back. "They must have been scout planes. We must be careful. If they sent a message to their main force, then they'll be expecting us!"

"Don't worry!" the king assured. "I doubt they had enough time to do that!"

Sure enough, the king was right. Throughout the rest of their trip, they did not encounter any more enemies.

"There it is!" the king pointed to an area with a lot of smoke. "Looks like their mages have been doing their jobs well! 

"Descend!"

All of the mage guided their jet boards lower, until they were under the clouds.

The sight was a horrible. Many of people that were fighting had been killed. The tanks, and fighter planes were all nothing but debris.

"This is terrible!" One of the female mages cried.

"Watch out!" Another female mage yelled. There was a huge beam of red light heading towards them. All he mages dodged it and ascended higher into the clouds. 

"That was no ordinary laser blast!" One of the male mages yelled. "That was a magic blast. Their mages are really powerful!"

"True!" The king responded. "They're probably using the magic of Spiral Tower to boost their own. But don't forget, great power leads to overconfidence! They will let their guard down, and allow us to give them that little surprise we planned!"  

"Little surprise?" Harry said to himself. "What could it be?"

"There it is!" The king shouted. "Spiral Tower!" And sure enough a large tower could be seen from where they were flying.

"This is it!" the king shouted as he took out his sword.

Harry looked over. "That's it!" he gasped. "That's the sword!" 

The sword shined beautifully as if it were made of platinum. It had jewels all over, and the handle was made of pure gold. Harry immediately started memorizing every aspect of the sword. For the rest of the memory, he did not take his eyes off it.

"Let's GO!"

All the mages got their staffs ready, and ascended even higher.

"Here they come, get ready!" The king shouted.

And sure enough, something was coming. This was a barrage of red beams, each as big as the one they saw a few moments ago. The enemy mages must have spotted them.

"NOW!" the king yelled. 

All the mages raised their staffs and started chanting. 

As soon as the red beams of light were close to the king and mages, they were blocked by an invisible wall.

"That's it!" The king shouted.

                Another barrage of red beams started flying at them, but once again the mages were able to block them.

                "Sire!" One of the male mages yelled. "They're much stronger then we expected. I'm not sure how much longer we can hold off their power!"

                "Just a little bit more!" The king yelled back. "Don't forget what, and who you're fighting for!"

                Another barrage came at them, and once again they were able to block. 

                "We won't be able to hold out much longer," the king said to himself. "This plan has to work, or else we're all doomed."

                The king and the mages got close enough to the tower to see the enemies that were there. 

                Sure enough, they were all mages dressed in robes, each chanting the same phrase: "_Ancient spirits of spiral tower, please give us eternal power!_"

                "Are those the enemy mages?" Harry said to himself.

                Each of the enemy mages started glowing red.

                "They're getting ready for another barrage!" Harry cried.

                The red lights shot out and headed directly for the king and the mages.

                Once again the mages were able to block the attack. Only this time, it came with a price. About one third of the mages on the jet boards have exhausted their powers, and ended up passing out and falling off.

                "If they're attacked one more time they're finished," Harry said to himself.

                "_Ancient spirits of spiral tower, please give us eternal power! Ancient spirits of spiral tower, please give us eternal power!_" the enemy mages continued to chant. Once again their bodies started glowing red. They were about to attack again.

                "NOW!" the king shouted.

                Immediately, the king and all of the remaining mages jumped off their jet boards and hovered high into the air.

                The enemy mages fired at the hovering mages.

                Many of the remaining mages were hit and killed, but a good number were able to avoid the blasts.

The jet boards that the king and the mages jumped off of headed directly towards the enemy mages.

The enemy mages each powered themselves up, and each shot a beam of red light (not as big as the ones before, because they didn't have enough time to power up) at the jet boards that were flying towards them.

The second the beams hit the jet boards, all of them made a huge explosion which completely engulfed all of spiral tower.

The king and the mages were high up in the air, and were able to avoid the explosion. 

The mages of spiral tower were not so lucky, however. They took the full explosion, and were all killed.

"That was a great plan sire!" one of the male mages gleamed. "Hiding powerful explosive inside a simple old jet board. Who ever thought that a children's toy can be so powerfully dangerous."

"They were just as dangerous to us as they were to them," the king replied calmly. "If one of the mages blasts penetrated our shield, and hit one of the boards, then all of us would have been killed by the explosion." The king turned to all the other mages. "I am very proud of all of you, you have done very well. Now all we have to do is help our army defeat the enemy army." The king raised his sword. "Let's move out!"

"Not so fast Helios!" An unknown voice called out. 

The king and the mages looked over and saw a man with jet black hair, around the same age as the king hovering towards them.

"Theolis!" The king gasped. He turned to his mages and said, "Go down and help our troops, I'll take care of this!"

Immediately, the atmosphere started to become fuzzier.

"It looks like this memory is over," Harry said to himself.

The scenery started disappearing, and in its place, a huge ice-filled room appeared.

Harry once again began shivering from the cold. 

He looked around and saw that there were no more mazes. He was just standing in a giant room. The room was so big, that you would be able to fit two Hogwarts castles inside it.

Harry continued looking around and saw another black hole on the other side of the room. "That must be the next memory," Harry said to himself, as he started heading towards it.

'Stop right there!' Karwyn said mentally. 'Do not leave this room.'

'Karwyn,' Harry said, with a hint of surprise in his mental voice. 'Why, what's wrong?'

'Have you memorized every aspect of the sword?' Karwyn asked.

'Yeah, I have.'

'Good,' Karwyn replied. 'Now close your eyes, and concentrate on that memory.'

Harry did as he was told.

'Use that memory to form the sword in your hands,' Karwyn continued.

Harry concentrated as hard as he could.  He remembered every single detail of the sword; the shining metal, the beautiful jewels and the golden handle. Then he pictured himself holding the sword, and before he knew it, he was holding the same sword that the king was holding in the memory.

'Is this good?' Harry asked.

'Perfect,' Karwyn replied. 'You now wield the sword of the king: _The sword of Helios_.'

'What's so special about this sword?' Harry asked.

'This is a magic sword that was passed down in the royal family of the civilization that you just saw. It was considered the most powerful weapon in the world.

'The only catch was that only a being with royal blood was able to wield it, no one else.'

'That's very nice; but if only a royal could wield it, then that means it's useless to me right?'

'Normally yes, but you are in memoriti-'

Before Karwyn could finish what he was about to say, his voice was drowned out by what sounded like an earthquake.

The ground underneath Harry started shaking heavily. Harry had to use all of his balance, just to keep from falling.

'Get ready,' Karwyn said. 'The battle has begun!'

A/n-Sorry to cut here, but as you can obviously see, I couldn't make 'The sins of the fathers' just one chapter, it was just too long. I'm still not quite finished with the others, but I will be soon. SORRY. r/r


	24. The Sins Of The Fathers' part II

Disclaimer-I do not own Harry Potter.

A/n-The song in the next chapter was inspired by a video of FFX-2 from this page:  http://www.kashinoda.da.ru Make sure to download and watch it, IT'S REALLY AWESOME. One more thing, the words in this story are not translations, I made them up myself. But you'lll see it in the next chapter, so be prepared by downloading it now. It's really cool.

                                                Chapter 24 The Sins of The Fathers part II

                "Battle! What battle?" Harry cried. 

                Before he could get a chance to listen for an answer, another earthquake shook the ground. This time it was so strong that it made Harry fall off his feet.

                Harry looked around the room. Once again everything in the room was quiet and calm. 'Karwyn?' Harry called. 'Are you there?' No answer came. 

Harry slowly rose to his feet, careful to keep his guard up the whole time. 'Karwyn, what battle are you talking about?' Still no answer came. Harry continued to look around the room, which still remained quiet.

"Karwyn, what did you lead me into?" Harry said to himself. Harry quickly fastened the sword into his belt and took his wand out, keeping his guard up the entire time.

'Karwyn! Answer me!' Harry exclaimed.

"Forget this," Harry said to himself. "I'm getting out of here before I freeze to death." Harry started heading towards the next memory, hoping that it would take him back to the era of king Helios.

It was true that one of the reasons that Harry wanted to go back to that era was to warm himself up, but he had other personal reasons for wanting to go there as well. 

He was very eager to find out what happened to the king, and his people. They seemed to be a very great civilization; in fact compared to the world that he was from, they were perfect. Their technology was unmatched, people were living in outer space, wizards and muggles were living peacefully together in a healthy and happy world. This was the kind of world that most of the people from his world only dreamed of. 'So why?' Harry asked himself. 'Why would the people of earth and outer space want to fight against each other? Why would they start a war in which so many lives would be lost? 

'From everything I seen so far, king Helios is a great leader. I would vote for him any day of the week. Why would an entire space civilization want to betray him? Why would they want to start such a horrible war?'

Everything that Harry had seen in the memories had stayed in Harry's mind the entire time. All the fighting, all the death. 'What is it all for?'

"IT IS BECAUSE FIGHTING IS A PART OF HUMAN NATURE!" A low and dark voice shouted.

"Who is that?" Harry shouted, while throwing himself into a fighting position. 

"Show yourself, now!" Harry demanded. 

Just then, the ground beneath Harry started shaking once again. This time however it shook harder than it had before. Harry knew that there would be no way for him to remain standing at this rate. He pointed his wand to his feet and yelled, "Kazenio!" Two small gusts of wind appeared at Harry's feet. Each gust began making a miniature whirlwind at each foot, which easily lifted Harry off the ground, allowing him to avoid the earthquake.

A second later, Harry found out that the earthquake was the least of his worries. For a second later the ground exploded and out of it came a huge monster.

The monster must have been about two hundred feet long and around twenty feet wide. It had two small arms coming out of the first quarter of its body, and two small legs coming out of the third quarter of its body. Every single inch of him was very clear and shiny like ice. And its head, which was about thirty feet long and thirty feet wide, was the scariest part of his body. It had a very wide mouth with clear, shining, razor sharp teeth; ice-like scales all around it; and its eyes, which looked like they were shining with static electricity had a look of rage in them. It looked like a clear icy version of the Chinese dragon.

As soon as Harry saw the monster emerge from the ground the only thing he wanted to do was to take his eyes off it. To turn around and fly away from it; but for some reason he didn't. Fear kept him hovering in the same spot while the dragon was emerging from the ice floor.

The dragon flew high above Harry showing off every single inch of its fearsome body. "Karwyn! What is this thing!" Harry yelled out frantically. "Karwyn! Answer me!"

The dragon continued to fly even higher, until he reached the icicle filled ceiling of the room (which was a few thousand feet high). A second before colliding with one of the giant icicles, the dragon made a perfect aerial flip and descended nose down back towards the ground. His entire body followed suite, only touching the ceiling with his giant spiky tail. The tail rammed into the ceiling and caused many of the giant icicles to fall towards the ground. 

Harry stirred the wind under his feet away from the falling icicles, while keeping his eyes on the monster the entire time.

The dragon flipped out of its descend, at about mid height. It started ascending again, but this time it was in a zigzag motion, which twisted the rest of its body into curves. After its entire body was completely twisted the dragon stopped and looked down directly at Harry. 

Harry gulped as the dragon's eyes started to glow with more static.

"This is not good," Harry said to himself.

Immediately the dragon uncoiled himself and flew directly at Harry with its mouth open, getting ready the close its sharp fangs around Harry's body.

Not wasting any time Harry guided the wind to the right barely dodging his giant mouth. All two hundred feet of the dragon's body flew right by only a few feat away from Harry. Harry looked right and saw that the dragon's spiky tail was about to ram right into him.

Harry quickly dismissed the whirlwinds and fell down towards the icy floor. He pointed his wand down at the floor and used another wind spell in order to slow his fall. The wind caught him just a few feet off the ground and slowed him down enough for a safe landing.

The dragon opened its mouth and let out a horrifying shriek. The shriek echoed through the entire room and forced Harry to cover his ears to drown out the painful sound.

Harry looked up at the dragon and saw that it was once again heading toward him with its mouth open.

'I nearly had it the last time I dodged his attack, if this keeps up I'll be dead soon, I have to get on the offensive,' Harry thought to himself. 'This thing is obviously made of ice, so if I can catch him in a fire spell, I'll be all set.'

The dragon was only a few yards away from Harry when it accelerated, and opened its mouth even more.

Harry pointed his wand at his feet and yelled, "Kazenio!" This time a large gust of wind appeared under Harry's feet and sent Harry flying into the air uncontrollably. The dragon snapped its mouth and changed its course upwards. Harry stabilized himself in the air and looked down and saw the dragon was ascending upwards face first.

'Perfect!' Harry gleamed. 'He fell into my trap!' 

Harry pointed his wand at the dragon, concentrated for a second, and then yelled out, "Incendio!" A huge pillar of fire erupted from the tip of Harry wand and headed directly for the clear dragon's face. 'There's no way he'll have enough time to dodge that!' Harry gleamed.

The dragon shifted its head a little so that its mouth was right in the line of fire. And then he did something completely unexpected. From the two tiny slits that seemed to be his nose he let out a fog of what looked like cold steam. The fog immediately dispersed Harry's flames.

"NO WAY!" Harry sulked. Quickly he cast another wind spell to guide him away from the giant dragon. 

The dragon stopped and eyed every move that Harry was making, waiting for Harry to slip up somewhere.

Harry descended closer to the ground and stopped around ten feet above it and faced the dragon. 'He has some kind of weird protection against it, but I know he's still weak against fire,' Harry thought to himself. 'If I can catch him off guard, I'll be able to melt him into a puddle of water.'

 The dragon once again began moving towards Harry.

'All I have to do is wait for it to make a mistake, and then I melt him,' Harry planned.

The dragon flew closer, opened its mouth and did something that Harry would have never expected. Out of its mouth, the dragon shot out a giant fireball.

"NO WAY!" Harry yelled in surprise.

The fireball flew directly at Harry. 'I can't let it hit me!' Harry guided his wind to the left and was able to dodge the fire completely.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Harry yelled out in pain as he fell down towards the ground, while clutching his right side.

Harry hit the ground hard, but luckily didn't break anything. 'What happened? The flames didn't touch me, but for some reason the heat of the flame hurt more than any normal fire would!' Harry thought as he stood up and faced the dragon. He looked at his soar right arm and realized two horrible facts. The first one was that his arm was completely blurry meaning that he lost his glasses and the second one was that there were absolutely no remnants of a wand in his hand. He must have dropped it when the flames hurt the right side of his body.

Harry looked up and saw a blurry dragon flying towards him. 'What am I going to do?' Harry thought frantically. 'I don't have my wand, and I can barely see!'

The dragon stopped about twenty yard in front of Harry. 'Why is it stopping?' Harry thought, as he tried to focus in on what the dragon was doing. 

What he saw completely frightened him. The dragon's mouth was glowing, meaning that he was about to blast Harry with another one of those special fireballs. 'No way can I dodge it on the ice,' Harry thought frantically. 'Especially if I don't have my glasses!' 

Harry concentrated for a second and waived his left hand. "Wandless magic don't fail me now!"

The dragon's mouth was indeed glowing, but it wasn't glowing with fire. It was glowing with some kind of weird blue light. It looked like small blue particles were being sucked in by the dragon's mouth. The dragon closed its mouth, and was about to release a massive attack. It bopped it head back, and then threw it forward and opened its mouth. A huge beam of blue light erupted from the dragon's mouth.

The beam was obviously aimed at Harry, but luckily it missed. A second before the dragon was able to let out the blast, a giant icicle, courtesy of Harry's wandless magic, fell on the dragon's head and caused the beam to shoot diagonally upwards. The beam hit the wall and made a vertical crater in it.

A second later another giant icicle hit the dragon's body and caused it to lose its previous position. A few more fell down and knocked the dragon out of the air.

Harry couldn't see exactly what happened, but thanks to the loud explosion behind him, and seeing a glimpse of the dragon falling, Harry knew that his plan worked.

"Now's my chance," Harry sighed. "I have to concentrate hard." 

Harry closed his eyes and pictured exactly what his glasses and their surroundings might look like. "Accio, glasses!" Harry yelled out. A second later he saw something blurry fly towards him, and assumed that they were his glasses. He caught them and put them on.

As soon as he did he was able to see everything clearly again. He looked around and was able to see his wand lying a few yards away from him. He waived his left hand once and the wand floated back to him. He caught the wand in his left hand and faced the fallen monster. 

The dragon didn't move at all. It just lay there completely still. 

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He checked on his right arm. It was still in pain, but he was able to move it a little.

Suddenly the ground started rumbling again. Harry turned to the dragon and saw that it was starting to move. "No you don't!" Harry shouted. He pointed his wand at it and yelled, "Incendio!" A giant pillar of fire, even bigger than his first flew directly at the dragon.

The dragon didn't have time to counterattack and was swallowed by the flames. After a few seconds, the flames covered the giant monster completely, Harry couldn't even see a glimpse of it.

Harry heard a shriek come from inside the flames, and that's when he knew that it was over.

Harry sighed from relief once more and let his guard down. "That was one tough battle," he said to himself.

The flames slowly died down, and then completely disappeared.

Harry's eyes widened and his jaw dropped when he saw what the flames revealed. It was the dragon, shining brighter than ever, without even a scratch on him.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Harry cried.

The dragon let out another loud shriek, even louder than his first one.

Harry covered his ears to drown out the horrible sound. 

As soon as the dragon stopped shrieking Harry faced it again, preparing himself for the fight. 

The dragon's eyes started glowing with static electricity once again; only this time the glow was brighter than before. The static electricity started to become larger and larger, until it finally shot out of his eyes and into the walls. The walls started glowing with static electricity, as the dragon shrieked again, and ascended higher into the air.

"What's happening to the walls?" Harry thought out loud. "Is this some kind of magic?"

The static electricity-like magic on the walls started glowing brighter, and accumulating faster. 

"This is definitely not good," Harry said to himself, while keeping his guard up.

The static electricity-like magic started drilling into the ice walls and making human figures in it. In a few second, the monsters magic somehow created several dozen ice soldiers, each holding an ice spear in their hands. 

Harry raised his wand, getting ready for the obvious. 

The static electricity-like magic was then absorbed into every single ice soldier. Each of the ice soldier's eyes began to glow, as they all started coming to life. Slowly one by one, each of the ice soldiers took a step out of the wall, and started heading towards where Harry was standing.

"Well, it did work against that thing, but maybe it'll work against these guys." Harry raised his wand and yelled "Incendio!" A pillar of fire shot out of Harry's wand and melted around six of the warriors that were heading towards Harry.

"Alright!" Harry gleamed. He aimed his wand at a few more and easily melted them.

'This is easy,' Harry thought to himself as he melted twelve more ice soldiers. Harry pointed his wand at the three that were behind him, but before he could recite the fire spell, he felt a very sharp pain in his left hand, which at the time was holding his wand.

Harry cried out in pain as he fell to his knees, and clutched his left hand with his right one. He looked around and saw that a spear on the ground next to his wand. One of the ice soldiers had knocked his wand out of his hand with its spear. Harry slowly looked down at his left hand and saw that it was completely bloody. He slowly removed his right hand from his left, and revealed a horrifying sight. The spear that knocked Harry's wand out of his hand had also chopped off his middle finger.

"Oh no!" Harry gasped as he once again began to clutch his left hand.

Trying his best to ignore the immense pain that he felt, Harry looked up and saw the ice soldiers slowly moving in on him. Each of the ice soldiers was already getting ready to slice its spear into Harry's body.

Harry looked back at his wand; it was his only chance now. He let go of his left hand and allowed the bleeding to continue. He then stood up and waived his bloodstained right hand, hoping that he could use some wandless magic to make the wand fly to him. The wand jumped up and flew directly towards Harry. Unfortunately one of the ice soldiers spotted this and caught the wand before it reached Harry.

"NO!" Harry cried, as the soldier with the wand stepped back while the others crowded in. "It's over," Harry sighed. Once again he clutched his aching left hand and fell on his left knee.

_Clank_, Harry heard some kind of sound come from right under him. 'What could it be?' He wondered. He looked down and realized that the sword that he tucked away in his belt made the sound.

'This sword it my last chance!' Harry stood up and drew the sword out of his belt. He got into a fighting stance gripping the sword with both of his hands, getting ready for anything that the ice soldiers were going to throw at him. The blood from his left hand was oozing all over the sword making it harder to grip, but Harry was determined; he was not going to lose.

One of the ice soldiers charged him with his spear. Harry sidestepped the spear, swung the sword downwards easily slicing through the soldier's arms, and then Harry spun around and sliced through the soldier's chest, slicing him in two.

Another ice soldier tried for an overhead swing, which Harry was able to block with his sword. The soldier applied some strength afterwards forcing Harry to stay in a blocking position. While Harry was stuck with that soldier, another one came from behind and swung his spear low trying to trip Harry. Harry saw this just in time. He jumped over the spear, and while he was in the air, he kicked the soldier if front of him away a few feet. As soon as Harry landed, he took a swing at the soldier behind him, and sliced him in two. The soldier that was knocked back, regained footing and swung his spear at Harry. Harry swung his sword at the spear, and easily sliced the spear in two, afterwards Harry followed through and spun in a circle, and cut the soldier in half.

'This is a really amazing sword,' Harry thought. 'It can cut through ice like it's Swiss cheese.' 

Two soldiers charged at Harry, one from the front, the other from his back. 'I wonder how smart these guys are?' Harry thought to himself, as he once again got in a fighting stance. The two both swung their spears at Harry, and ended up piercing each other, as Harry jumped out of the way. "Not very smart at all," Harry thought out loud. Both soldiers turned and looked at Harry. They each removed their spear from the others' chest, but before they could do anything, Harry sliced both of them in half.

There were only a few more left, and they were all heading in Harry direction. Harry however, ignored them. Instead he turned his attention in the other direction; towards the ice soldier who had his wand. Harry charged the ice soldier getting ready for a quick diagonal slash. The ice soldier tried to block Harry's attack, but the sword was just too strong. It easily penetrated through the spear, and slashed the ice soldier in half. Harry picked up his wand with his bloody left hand and turned towards the other ice soldiers. He pointed his wand at them, and immediately they all stopped.

Harry gave a small smirk.

The ice soldiers, all threw their spears at Harry. 

"Protecto!" Harry yelled. A blue wall appeared in front of Harry and blocked all the spears.

Now that the soldiers were spear-less, Harry didn't really worry about them. Instead, he turned his attention to his aching, bloody left hand. He cut off a piece of cloth, and magically bound it around his missing finger, or at least what was left of it.

Harry looked up, and noticed that the soldiers started charging him again, even though they didn't have their spears. Harry just rolled his eyes, and used the fire spell to melt all of them.

As soon as they were all melted, Harry heard a loud shriek come from above him. Harry looked up, and saw something that brought back all the fear that left him the last few moments. It was the dragon again. Once again there was static electricity-like magic coming from his eyes, only this time it was one hundred times as big as when he created the few dozen ice soldiers. The magic light left his eyes and was once again absorbed into the walls.

Harry looked around the walls, and once again he saw ice soldiers being formed; only this time it wasn't by the dozens it was by the hundreds. He got ready, holding his wand in his left hand, and his sword in his right, as the hundreds became thousands, and the thousands became ten thousands. After a few seconds they were all surrounding Harry from each side, each getting ready to throw its spear directly at him.

The dragon shrieked again as it started descending towards Harry. 'He's joining in the fight as well?' 

The dragon opened his mouth and fired ten giant icicles out of it, each heading directly for Harry's heart. "Kazenio!" A whirlwind picked him up into the air, allowing him to dodge the dragon's attack. The ice soldiers threw their spears at him, but the whirlwind was so strong, that it didn't allow the spears to penetrate. Harry used the crater that the dragon made with his blue energy blast as a ledge to land on. He knelt down and looked below. Immediately he saw a few spears flying directly at him. "Protecto!" A blue wall appeared in front of him and protected him from every single spear.

Just then Harry noticed a few small sparkles starting to appear few yards in front of him. He looked forwards and saw that those sparkles were heading inside the mouth of the giant dragon. 

'Not good!' Harry panicked. 'If I let go of my wall and try to get away, then one of the spears will hit me. If I keep the wall and don't move, then that dragon will hit me! I'm sure there's no way my wall can block whatever attack he's about to do!'

'It worked once, maybe it'll work again!' Harry waived his right arm (with the sword in it), and used some wandless magic, to once again make a few icicles fall on the dragon. 

The dragon closed its mouth bopped its head back, ready to fire. The icicles were just inches away from the dragon's head now.

'Please hit!'

The dragon's eyes started to glow, and a force field appeared right on top of it, blocking it from all the icicles.

"Of course!" Harry sighed.

The dragon threw its head forwards and let a huge beam out of its mouth.

'I have to try a wind spell, even if I do risk getting hit by a spear!' Harry let go of his wall, and was about to use a wind spell, when he realized that the beam wasn't aimed at him. It was actually aimed lower; in fact because it was aimed beneath him, it destroyed any incoming spear. 

'Did the icicles cause him to lose his concentration?' Harry wondered.

A moment later he found out what the dragon had planned all along. The dragon's blast was so powerful, that it completely knocked out the wall beneath Harry, sending Harry, sliding down on a small ridge of ice. Because Harry was trying to balance himself on the ice, he accidentally lost his wand, and he wasn't able to concentrate hard enough to get it back using wandless magic. The ice ridge slid down the crumbling wall and hit the floor hard. Luckily since it was sliding down the wall, and not freefalling, Harry got away with nothing more than a broken left leg. 

A few seconds after Harry's landing the wall behind Harry completely crumbled and fell on the floor, instantly crumbling it and creating a huge ravine right behind him.

Harry used the sword to prop himself back onto his feet. He tried his best to avoid putting weight on his left foot, but seeing as he was standing on ice, it was very hard.

Immediately Harry heard a huge rumbling. He looked up and saw the dragon had landed on its hands and feet, and was facing Harry directly.

Harry tried to lift the sword up and get in a stance, but his left leg caused him to fall off his feet.

The dragon slowly opened its mouth and began absorbing small blue light particles once again. 

"Damn it!" Harry cursed. "How is anyone supposed to beat this thing?" He tried to stand on his feet one more time, but found it was futile.

The dragon began absorbing more and more energy, until it had enough. Then it closed its mouth, bopped its head back, pushed it forward and emitted the most powerful blast Harry had ever seen. The beam from the dragon's mouth had a diameter of around ten yards. And the light was so bright, that nothing else can be seen beyond it.

The blast connected with Harry, making him instantly disappear in it. 

The dragon stopped the beam after around thirty seconds. After all the debris cleared up, nothing could be seen where the blast had hit. There was nothing but air there.

However, if the dragon looked below where the beam had hit, he'd see a blood-soaked and barely conscious Harry hanging on the sword that was stuck in the wall of the ravine. The right half the top of his uniform had been completely eradicated, and a very bloody bare arm and chest were revealed.

It turned out that at the last second, Harry used some wandless magic to push himself off the ravine. That prevented him from getting hit directly by the blast, and instead he received just a glimpse of it. However, since the blast was so powerful, even that little glimpse was able to do a lot of damage to him.

'Looks like this is it,' Harry thought faintly. 

'What are you doing?' a very familiar voice chastised.

'Karwyn? Is that you?' Harry barely managed to get that out.

'Hold still!' Karwyn commanded. 

Just then, Harry began feeling a sensation in his body. All his wounds began heeling up. Even his missing finger had grown back. Every ounce of pain that Harry was feeling at the moment was gone. It felt like he was reborn.

'Where were you all this time?' Harry chastised.

'I was trying to communicate with you, but your mind was too tense,' Karwyn said. 'I was trying to tell you how to beat _Gemini!"_

'Gemini?' Harry questioned. 'You mean that thing has a name? Did you know about it this whole time?'

'I'll explain later,' Karwyn said. 'While you were concentrating on the sword, I was concentrating on the king. I was able to tap into his memory and learn how to use the sword. If you and I can combine our minds, we will be able to wield the power of the king himself!'

Harry looked up to see if the dragon noticed that he was still alive, and realized that even though he wasn't passing out, everything was still very blurry. 'That won't be enough! I lost my glasses; I won't be able to fight what I can't see!'

'That's okay, I'll let my eyes be your eyes, are you ready?'

'Just one more thing,' Harry said. 'How did you do that healing thing?'

'I'll explain later,' Karwyn said impatiently. 'We must get on the offensive before Gemini realizes that you're still alive!'

'Alright,' Harry nodded. 'Let's do it!'

A bright light emerged from the ravine that Harry was in. The dragon and all the ice soldiers turned their heads and stared at the light.

After about a second after, a fully rejuvenated and empowered Harry arose from the light.

His emerald green eyes glowed brighter than ever before, his bare arm and chest looked like they were never even touched. And the look on his face struck fear even into the emotionless ice soldiers.

"It's over," Harry said in a dark and low voice. "And I mean for you." He pointed his sword at the dragon. "I'm going to take you out, right here right now!"

The ice soldiers immediately started throwing spears at the new Harry. But the spears were quickly blocked by an invisible force field.

Harry raised the sword into the air, swung it once and sent a huge wave of fire at the ice soldiers. This fire wave melted almost half of them. Then he waived it once more time and took out the rest of them.

He looked up and turned his attention to Gemini.

Gemini opened his mouth and shot a huge icicle at Harry. Harry raised his sword and formed a powerful force field to block the attack. After the attack was disintegrated, Harry raised the sword and started swing it in the shape of a star. As soon as he finished, a giant star started glowing in front of him. Harry raised the sword in front of him, put two fingers in front of it and started to concentrate hard.

A circle immediately appeared in around the star, and it started glowing as well. "It's over!" Harry yelled, as the circled star became a huge beam, which flew directly at the dragon. The beam connected and knocked the dragon back a little.

Immediately Harry appeared right in front of its face; his emerald green eyes shined brighter than ever. "You're not needed here; the last thing that anyone should remember is YOU!" Harry raised his powered up sword and with one slash, sliced the Gemini vertically in half. Harry felt a bit of cold as Gemini broke apart and sent a few small icicles in Harry's direction. Some of them were caught in his hair, and made his head feel a little chilly, but at this moment Harry didn't mind at all.

Gemini fell to the ground in two pieces.

Harry concentrated the power of the sword and sent a few blasts at the fallen dragon, completely disintegrating it.

"Just to be sure," Harry smirked.

Harry landed on the ice, fell off his feet, and gave a huge sigh.

'Congratulations,' Karwyn said. 'But now, we must continue on with memoritia!'

An/-Wow, compared to fighting Gemini, fighting Malfoy must've been a walk in the park. Keep reading, I'm almost finished with the III installment of TSotF. I just had to change the story around, to include a few new scenes. R/R 


	25. The Sins Of The Fathers' Part III

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter (but of course you already knew that).

                                    The Sins of the Fathers-Part III       

                Harry dropped his sword towards the icy ground as he fell backwards from fatigue. It seemed that drawing and using so much power from the sword has tired and weakened him. It became obvious to him at that moment why the king had been so admired by his people. He had powers that not even the greatest of wizards of Harry's time had, and yet, he was kind and gentle and cared deeply for his people. He didn't let all of his power go to his head, which was something that many people in his position would have done. He was like the Albus Dumbledore of his age.

                'So why would an entire civilization betray him?' Harry wondered, as his panting started to slow down now that his fight had ended.

                'Are you ready yet?' asked the impatient Karwyn. 'We should hurry up.'

                Harry slowly tried to get to his feet, but he was still too listless to continue on the journey at the moment. Aside form that, he was once again starting to shiver from the icy surroundings, now that the heat of the battle was over. He clutched his arms around his body in an attempt to keep himself warm, but seeing as he was completely surrounded by ice, his attempt was fruitless.

                'If you stay like that any longer, you will freeze to death,' Karwyn warned. 'You must continue and get inside another memory.'

                Harry picked up the magic sword and started using it as a crutch in order to stand properly. Using all of his remaining strength, he was able to stand on his feet, while supporting himself with the sword.

                'Can you walk?' asked Karwyn.

                Harry eyebrows slowly curved into a glare as he looked over to the remains of the guardian that he had just fought. He stared at it for a few seconds. Anger filled him he continued to look at the remains of the monster. 'You knew about this thing didn't you!'

                'Yes,' Karwyn answered slowly.

                'And yet, you didn't tell me!' Harry scolded. 'Did it slip your mind or something!'

                'No. I was afraid if I told you it would prevent you from coming here. And even if you did come I was afraid that the anxiety of knowing about it would be too much for you.'

                'So instead you send me off into a battle completely blind!' By now Harry was so angry that he had already forgotten about the fact that he tired, or that he was freezing in the middle of a humongous ice maze.

                'I prepared you for the monster by having you create that sword for yourself, didn't I?' said Karwyn, in an attempt to defend his actions. 'And I studied the king in order to help you. It was your anxiety that severed my connection with you and forced you to fight that thing by yourself. That is why I did not tell you before. I thought that when it came down to the minute, you'd be able to pull through before fear overtook you.'

                Harry's jaw fell a few inches. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was just forced to fight one of the most and dangerous creatures he had ever seen, and now, Karwyn was trying to make it seem like it was his fault. He was about to explode with anger. All he wanted to do at the moment was yell as loud as he could. But, with a deep breath and with a lot of will power he managed to suppress it.

                'So what was that thing anyway?' asked Harry, while trying to keep his emotions under control.

                'He is the guardian of the memories here,' Karwyn answered. 'He is a legendary creature made completely out of diamond.'

                Harry's eyes widened a bit when he heard this. 'Diamond?' he questioned. 'You mean he's not made of ice?'

                'No, he isn't. I guess considering the type of place you're in, it would be expected of you to think that.'

                'No wonder fire didn't affect him.'

                'It is a small advantage that he has.'

                Harry scratched some of the icicles out of his head as a new thought came to his mind. 'How do you know all of this?' he asked. 'It's obvious that you never came here before?'

                There was silence for a moment.

                'Well,' said Harry impatiently. 'Are you going to answer me or not!'

                'I am sorry, but I'm afraid that I can not answer that question at this time,' said Karwyn after another moment of silence.

                Harry slowly sighed and once again fell to the floor as fatigue had once again overtaken him. Now that his anger had subsided, he was once again able to feel tired and cold. 

                'Are you alright?' asked Karwyn.

                'I can't continue,' said Harry. 'Using the sword really tired me out.'

                'That is expected. Only the king had enough energy to use the sword properly.'

                'How was I able to use the sword anyway?' asked Harry. 'Didn't you say that only the king could use the sword?' Right about now, Harry was so cold, that that was really the last thing on his mind. The only thought on his mind was to keep talking so he could try and forget his freezing atmosphere.

                'Yes, that is true,' Karwyn admitted. 'However, the normal rules do not apply here in Memoritia. I would think that the fact that you can create a weapon that powerful out of nothing would be a more interesting question. When you used the sword against the beast, you also used the memories of the king himself. You used his body, mind, and power. Normally the sword would not react to anyone but the king, but because you are here, you were able to put all of the king's characteristics inside yourself. You could say that you tricked the sword into thinking you were the king-that is of course, if swords could think.'

                'It kind of makes sense. Even before you helped me use the swords power, I felt like there was something helping me inside when I used it against those ice soldiers. I only held up a sword once before, but when I fought against them, I felt like I was doing this my whole life.'

                'You must have somehow received some of the king's memories before I came.'

                'Obviously not enough. Anyway, since everything is just a memory, does this mean that I won't be able to use this sword outside of this place?' asked Harry.

                'Yes. But that does not matter because you will not be able to take the sword with you. This sword is just a memory just like everything else here. And memories can not affect reality, no matter how much we want them to, if you know what I mean.'

                Harry looked down at the sword and frowned. He felt really disappointed, knowing that he had the power to defeat Voldemort, and finally bring peace back to the world, but being unable to use it, because in some sense it wasn't real.

                'Are you able to go on now?' Karwyn asked. 'If you continue to sit there on the ice it will only get worse.'

                Harry once again, using the sword as a crutch, stood to his feet.

                'Out of curiosity, could you use that healing thing to bring back my strength, like you did before?' asked Harry as he desperately tried to maintain his balance.             

                'I cannot,' Karwyn said simply.

                'How come? And what was it that you did anyway?'

                'It is another power of the Unicorn. We can heal those whom we shared our gift with.'

                'That sounds convenient. So why can't you use it now.'

                'Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't,' Karwyn said.

                'I don't understand.' By now Harry was shivering harder than ever, and he was in no mood to put up with any riddles.

                'We can only heal a being once every twenty four hours, and the healing is only temporary, after we leave you'll have to get a permanent treatment at your school.'

                'How long is your healing going to last?'

                'It matters not. Time inside Memoritia isn't the same as time on the outside. Here a few seconds is equivalent to many hours in Memoritia. In fact, when our connection was severed, it only took me a second to reconnect with you. But as you probably already know, a long time past inside Memoritia. While my mind is connected with you, I am able to follow the time flow there. But since healing required a physical connection rather than a mental one, the time for which it will wear off is dependent on real time outside Memoritia, which could be many days inside.

                'Anyway, can you get to the portal yet?'

                'I think I have enough strength for that,' Harry nodded. 'But first I need to find my wand.' Harry straightened out and started looking around the floor.

                'Don't bother looking,' said Karwyn. 'It fell in the ravine.'

                'Okay.' Harry slowly walked over to the Ravine, knelt down-crutched by the sword-and started searching for his missing wand. It wasn't long before he saw it. It lay on top of a pile of rubble, unbroken. It seemed like it somehow fell in after the ravine was completely formed. "It probably slid in,' Harry said to himself.

                Harry stuck out his hand and started to concentrate on his magic.

                At the bottom the wand slowly started twitching.

                Harry gritted his teeth and concentrated harder. The wand slowly rose in the air and floated upwards. Halfway up the ravine the wand suddenly dropped and rolled somewhere under the rubble of ice.

                'What just happened?' asked Karwyn.

                'I couldn't handle it. My wandless magic is very limited. The most I can do is some small levitation, and even that is hard. And in this state I can't even do that.'

                'In that case use the power of the sword.'

                'What?'

                'Invoke the powers of the sword to get your wand back.'

                'I can't do that, it'll tire me out even more.'

                'A small thing like levitation will not tire you out too much. Besides if you stay here any longer, fatigue will be the least of your worries.'

                Harry sighed. Karwyn was right. By now he was so cold that he could barely feel any part of his body. His entire body was almost completely numb.

                Harry raised the sword and started concentrating on the king's memories. A second later the sword started glowing. Harry pointed the sword towards the bottom of the ravine, and almost it exploded with flying pieces of ice.

                "I overdid it," Harry mumbled to himself, as he lowered himself to the ground and covered his head to protect himself from the flying ice. 

                Harry slowly uncovered his head and carefully looked around getting ready to dodge anymore flying icicles. When he saw that there weren't any, he got back up to his feet and started scanning the floor for his wand. Surprisingly enough his wand was right under him, lying next to his beat up glasses. He picked up both, and after fixing his glasses with his wand, turned his attention to the portal to the next memory.

                'Alright,' he though to himself. 'This is it. Now I'm finally going to find out what happened to King Helios.' 

                Using the sword as a crutch Harry slowly stumbled over to the awaiting portal, took a deep breath, and stepped in.

                Immediately the cold feeling around him disappeared as his surroundings began dissipating. Soon Harry felt the ground beneath him disappear. It felt like he was floating in thin air. Darkness surrounded him. He gulped and got ready for what was coming next.

                "Now, I'll learn what truly happened to the king."

                Slowly the darkness began to lighten, and reveal familiar scenery to Harry. Clouds formed in a light blue sky, as Harry realized exactly where he was. 

                "This is where the last memory left off," he observed.

                "It's been a while," a voice from Harry's upper right said. Harry looked up and saw King Helios hovering next a light skinned person, with short dark hair and a blue suit.

                "You shouldn't have come here Theolis," said Helios, with what sounded like regret in his voice. "I had hoped that you and I would avoid a fight."

                The man whom Helios spoke with, just hovered in the air silently.

                Harry looked over at king Helios. His face looked like it was filled with sorrow, anguish, and hurt. It was obvious that he did not want to fight with this man. He opened his mouth and once again he started speaking that strange language. "Kodolona itsa mora, ni ye jo-"

                "SHUT UP!" Theolis yelled. "Don't you ever use that language with me again! That language is only to be used between people that are close to each other! And you are nothing to me now!"

                Helios didn't say anything. He just continued to hover in the air silently.

                'What did he say?' Karwyn asked Harry, snapping him out of his thoughts.

                Harry shook his head for a second, trying to regain his position. 'I don't know. Something about always having an understanding or something, he never finished.

                'Speaking of which, do you have any idea why I can understand that language?'

                'It might have something to do with Memoritia. I still do not know all the secrets of this place, maybe since you are so close to the memories of the king, that you were able to pick up on the language.'

                'Then what-'

                'I do not know why I can't understand it,' Karwyn interrupted, sensing what Harry's next question was going to be. 'Maybe to understand something as complex as a new language you have to be insi-'

                'Quiet!' Harry interrupted. 'They're starting to talk again, and I want to hear this.'

                "Theolis," said Helios. "I do not know why you decided to start this war, but I do not wish to hurt you. Just leave now."

                "And what if I choose to stay and fight?" snarled Theolis.         

                "Then I will have no choice but to kill you," said Helios.

                "That's fine with me. It is the natural order of life. Yesterday's friends become tomorrow's foes; self-interest always takes precedence over the common good; betrayal is a virtue known to all, and eventually self-interest will awaken this sleeping virtue and transform friends into foes. So it always was and so it always will be. That is the reality. Reality that always was, and reality that always will be. If you try to go against reality, then reality will crush you; reality will step over you; and reality will continue to exist as if you were never there."

                Helios frowned. "That is a very nice pun," he spat. "But what exactly are you trying to get at."

                "I went against reality, hoping to bring about a new reality, until reality showed me that it is impossible. Reality has no forgiveness for those who stand against it. It showed me no mercy."

                "What are you talking about? You're the one who betrayed me!"

                Theolis threw him a glare as he gritted he teeth. "How dare you say such a thing!"

                "I'm saying it because-"

                "Enough talk!" growled Theolis, drawing his sword, and pointing it at Helios. "It's time to fight!"

                "You know that I am more powerful than you are, why are you even bothering to try and fight me," said Helios.

                "You're such a snob Helios!" Theolis snarled as he got ready to charge Helios. "Why must you always look down on people!" 

                Theolis flew directly at Helios, his sword drawn ready to strike. He swung it in a diagonal overhead slash, only to be blocked by Helios' sword. For a minute the two were in a power struggle, each trying to overcome the other with physical strength. Since Theolis had the attack advantage, he was able to overcome Helios, and sent him flying backward. Theolis concentrated for a second and sent a beam of green light towards Helios. "Chew on this!" he yelled.

                Helios caught himself in the air, swung at the green light, and magically split it in half. "I'm not hungry," he responded.  He charged towards Theolis getting ready to slash.

                Theolis got in stance ready to block and counter. Helios headed for him, as he raised his sword, and then suddenly he disappeared. Theolis swung his head back and forth trying to find the place where Helios disappeared to, but before he could locate him he felt a hard blow to the back of his head which sent him flying downward. He looked up and saw that it was Helios' foot that was responsible for the hit. And now Helios was charging his sword getting ready to attack.

                Helios swung his sword in the shape of a star, which was enveloped by a magic circle, and shot directly at Theolis.

                Harry's jaw dropped when he saw this. "That beam is ten times bigger than the one I used against Gemini!" he gasped.

                The beam caught Theolis and completely covered him, blocking him out completely.

                Helios lowered his sword and sighed. "Forgive me my friend," he said.

                "I think me forgiving you is the least of your worries!" a voice snarled.

                At the same time both Harry and Helios looked towards the source of the voice, which came form inside the beam. They waited for the magical blast to subside, and both gasped when they saw Theolis hovering there completely unscathed.

                "Impossible!" gasped Helios.            

                "And yet true," Theolis gloated. "You and the rest of the Earth were so complacent with the protection that your sword gives that you ignored everything else. You ignored our technological advancements, you underestimated us."

                "No, we never did," Helios said in a low voice. "We just never expected you to betray us like you did."

                "_US! Betray you!" Theolis spat. "You're the ones that betrayed us!"_

                Helios charged his sword and sent a barrage of green beams of light directly at Theolis.

                Theolis just stood his ground, not moving an inch. "You never learn, do you Helios," he said.

                The beams all connected with Theolis causing a bright explosion around him.

                Harry covered his eyes trying to avoid the glare.

                When the light faded, once again both Helios and Harry were surprised to see that Theolis was hovering there completely unscathed.

                "Don't you understand yet," said Theolis. "I came prepared for you already." He pulled his left sleeve up and revealed to Helios what looked to Harry like an ordinary watch. "This is the latest battle technology."

                Helios looked at it for a second. "It looks like an ordinary watch to me?" he said.  

                "A simpleton like you would think that," Theolis barked. "But in reality this is the greatest military invention to date. It can be used as a communicator, it creates an antigravity field allowing me to fly without wasting my own magical energy, and-my favorite part-it is able to create a special _absolute barrier, which is capable of absorbing all forms of magical energy, and convert that energy to its power cells, which can last many days thanks to your recharge."_

                Helios stayed silent.

                "And to show you my gratitude, I think I'll let you have this barrier." Theolis pushed a button on his device and immediately a surge of light appeared around Helios.

                Helios swung his head back and forth. "What is this?" he gasped.

                The light quickly disappeared.

                "What just happened?" asked Helios.

                "I just gave you the absolute barrier. Go ahead, try and use some magic against me!" Theolis urged.

                "I had enough of your games Theolis!" Helios growled. He got his sword ready and charged at Theolis. He swung an overhead slash, which Theolis easily blocked. Helios followed through by spinning, and getting ready to slash him from his right side. Theolis descended and dodged the attack. Helios immediately went for an overhead slash again. Theolis blocked it, but this time Helios was ready with a kick in the face, which sent Theolis flying backward.

                "IT'S OVER!" Helios growled as he charged his sword and swung it in Theolis' direction, letting out a huge wave of fire.

                "What?" Helios gasped. "Nothing happened?"

                Theolis chuckled a bit as he regained his position in the air. "It's called an _absolute barrier for a reason. It absorbs __all magical energy, including the ones that you give off. So you see even your magic is useless now."_

                Helios glared. "Maybe, but so is yours!"

                "True, but I won't need magic to beat you since I have technology on my side." Theolis reached into his breast pocket and pulled out what looked like a handgun.

                "Is that a blaster?" asked Helios.      

                "No," Theolis replied simply. "I'm afraid that the barrier absorbs blaster energy as well. This is an old fashion handgun. If you don't know what those are-"

                "I know exactly what a handgun is. A primitive weapon from over 2000 years ago. It carries around eight to ten bullets. If that's your secret weapon against me, then you should just quit now!"

                "Actually I was just about to explain that this is an upgraded handgun. Instead of using gunpowder, we used Crystalison."

                "The fuel that we use for our space shuttles?"

                "Exactly. And because it's so powerful, we were able to miniaturize the bullets to a half a millimeter in diameter. That way it could hold hundreds of bullets in one gun instead of just a few, and they do over ten times as much damage as well."

                "You fool!" Helios growled. "Even in such small amount crystalison is still very dangerous. I know that because we packed our jet boards with a few grams of crystalison, and look what happened."

                "If I used your primitive metal then my handgun would probably explode. However, I'm using a new experimental metal called _Litanium_, a metal that can only be refined in zero gravity. It's at least one thousand times stronger than any metal that you have."

                Helios growled.    

                "Instead of hiding behind your sword, you should've advanced your own technology. But considering what you're in the middle of building, our new metal is nothing more than plastic!"

                Helios' eyes widened. "What I'm building?"

                Theolis quickly pointed the gun at Helios and started shooting at him. 

Helios quickly reacted by doing an aerial back-flip and avoided all the bullets. 

                Theolis charged at him, sword in his right hand and gun in his left, ready to strike with either. He swung his sword at Helios and was immediately blocked, and got involved in a one sided power struggle-in Helios' favor, being that he only used one hand to hold his sword and Helios used two. Before Helios was about to knock him away, Theolis pointed his gun at Helios' head and pulled the trigger.

                Helios was ready for his fire and started descending as soon as he saw the gun move. He easily dodged the bullet and continued descending as Theolis switched his position and started shooting downward. Helios looked up after descending a few thousand meters, and saw that Theolis was charging his sword. "Why would he do that?" Helios said to himself. 

                Theolis shot a huge beam of green light directly at Helios.

                Helios gasped as he realized that the barrier around him had disappeared. He quickly pulled his sword in front of him and created a barrier to block the beam coming at him. The beam connected with the barrier and created a glare of bright light. Helios placed his arm in front of is face shielding his eyes from the bright light.          

                Suddenly Helios was forced to scream out in pain as he felt something drive through his chest. A second later he felt the same feeling in his left leg and stomach. He fell from the sky almost unconscious. It took all the energy he had left, but he was able to keep himself aloft somewhere in the middle of the clouds.

                Harry glided down towards him. As soon as he was near him he saw that Helios was in horrible shape. There was blood coming out of the front and back of his chest, stomach, and left leg. Breathing seemed to be a chore for him, and he was coughing up blood. 'Karwyn, what just happened?' asked Harry.

                'Theolis removed the barrier from Helios and shot him with a large amount of magic, forcing the king to block. Then when he was distracted by the bright glare of light, Theolis once again placed the barrier on him to remove his shield and fired his gun.'

                'He doesn't look good,' Harry observed.

                'It looks like one of his lungs was punctured. Although those bullets were small they were very powerful. They were able to puncture right through his body. And he can't even use a temporary healing spell, because if he does the absolute barrier will just absorb the magical energy he gives off."

                Helios and Harry both turned their attention upwards as they heard gunshots coming from the sky.

                "Looks like he doesn't give up," Harry said to himself.

                Helios dived lower and deeper into the clouds in order to hide himself better. "He had both magic and technology on his side," the king thought out loud. "He seems all but invincible. However, he forgot about one thing." Helios gathered all of his remaining energy and ascended out of the clouds and towards where Theolis was.

                Theolis noticed Helios come out of the clouds and immediately started shooting at him.

                Helios converted almost all his remaining energy to his speed and ascended higher to dodge the bullets. 

                Theolis continued shooting at Helios, while Helios once again started charging his sword. "What is he doing?" Theolis thought out loud. "He knows that magic is useless? Did he find a way to dissipate my barrier?"

                Helios' sword started glowing bright red as he began to dive directly at Theolis. Theolis shot off a few bullets which Helios dodged by zigzagging downwards. Theolis got in stance ready for anything that Helios was going to throw at him. 

                As soon as he was close enough, Helios swung his sword into a horizontal cross slash. Theolis immediately tried to block it with his own sword, but the charged up sword of Helios was so powerful by then that it was able to slice Theolis' sword in half, and threw Theolis back a bit. Helios spun and followed up his attack with a powerful hook kick towards Theolis' left hand and knocked the gun right out of it, and sent Theolis flying back even more. Helios spun one more time and brought his sword-still charged up-into an overhead slash getting ready to slice Theolis on half vertically. Luckily Theolis was fast enough to reach into his pocket, grab his second Litanium made gun and block Helios' attack with it. Although, the attack was blocked there was so much power behind it that it sent Theolis flying downwards.  

                Theolis regained himself and pointed his gun to where Helios was supposed to be, only he was not there anymore. Theolis started looking around while his reached into his jacket with left hand and pulled out another gun. He started swinging his guns back and forth, getting ready to fire at the first thing he saw or heard. Rage overtook him as his eyebrows curved into a glare and his teeth were clenched together. He was sweating and panting, and even had a small amount of blood dripping from his mouth. "It's no use hiding Helios!" he shouted. "Wherever you are, I'll find you!"

                "You are a fool Theolis!" Helios' voice said from behind Theolis.

                Theolis immediately turned around and started shooting. He stopped after ten shots when he realized that no one was there.

                "Your gloating was always your weakness," Helios' voice said from above Theolis.

                Theolis looked up and saw that no one was there.

                "You basically told me how your absolute barrier works," Helios voice came from the right. After this every single word Helios said started coming from every angle around Theolis. "It absorbs all magical energy given off, but doesn't affect stored magical energy. Furthermore, you explained how litanium was an experimental metal, so I assumed that it wasn't able to convey magical energy. And since you were able to use magic through the sword I assumed that it wasn't made of litanium, but of Tri Crystalic radial Alloy, the strongest metal that can convey magic. Therefore I was able to easily shatter it and get the upper hand."

                A small smile curved around Theolis' lips. "You have a problem about bragging as well. Even a five year old knows that invisibility is inner magic!" He curled himself up into a ball, and then immediately stretched out emitting a flare of light from his entire body.

                The light was so bright that Harry was forced to grunt and cover his eyes.

                Theolis immediately heard a grunt from his upper right. He aimed both his guns up at the source of the grunt and began firing.

                Immediately Helios appeared out of nowhere clutching his right shoulder.

                "And now to relieve you of that trinket!" Theolis aimed at Helios' right hand and pulled the trigger. 

                Helios yelled out in pain and dropped the sword.          

                Theolis shot Helios again, and again, until he finally went automatic, and shot him at least twenty times. He then flew up near Helios, swung his right arm, caught Helios in a head lock and start diving towards Spiral Tower. As soon as he was near he swung Helios directly at the tower.

                Using all the power he had left, Helios stopped himself right in front of the tower.

                Before he could do anything, Theolis stomped on his chest and smashed his body against the tower. Theolis pointed his guns at Helios' face, each gun aimed at one of his eyes. "Long live the king!" he growled. He immediately started shooting as fast as he could. Helios yelled out in pain as his face start bursting out blood that covered Theolis hands completely. This didn't stop Theolis from continuing to shoot of course. He shot Helios at least another twenty times before he stopped and looked directly at what was left of Helios' face. "I did it!" he gasped in surprise. "I actually did! I beat him!"

                "No way," Harry said to himself, as he stared in disbelief.

                Before Theolis could celebrate any further, Helios' entire body transformed into a black puff of smoke and he disappeared. "A shadow?" Theolis thought out loud.

                Before he could do or think anything else, he felt his right hand being kicked hard. The kick was so hard that it knocked the gun out of his hand and sent it flying downwards. Theolis turned to his right and saw Helios raising his sword and panting.

                Helios swung downwards and sliced off a part of Theolis' left arm, sending it falling downward along with the gun and the special wristwatch. 

                Theolis tried to scream out in pain, but was immediately stopped when Helios spun around and ground his foot in Theolis' throat, slamming him against the tower. Helios pressed his foot down harder on Theolis' neck, choking him.

                Helios remained in that position for a second until he saw that the absolute barrier disappeared. He swung his sword over his head and immediately and circle of white light appeared around him, healing his three bullet wounds.

                Helios removed his foot and grabbed Theolis by the shirt with his left hand.

                "How?" Theolis managed to choke out.

                "That wasn't a shadow," Helios said simply. "Your anger allowed me to attack you mentally. Everything you just saw now was an illusion, including my blood." Immediately the blood that covered Theolis disappeared.  

                "He's really powerful," Harry observed. 

                "It's over," said Helios.

                "Not quite," grunted Theolis.

                Helios lowered his eyes on Theolis. "What do you mean?"

                "I was only supposed to distract you, while my army took out yours."

                "What?" gasped Helios.

                "Up until now, we were only using our old, out-of-date weapons. We took Spiral Tower to lure out your entire army. With the combined effort of our mages, our litanium alloy made weapons, and those little watches that you love so much, we were easily able to defeat your army. I got the message of their surrender about ten minutes ago."

                Helios took a deep breath trying to take in everything he just heard.

                "Now you have no choice but to accept our terms of surrender, otherwise we start attacking your civilians."

                Helios glared at him.

                "And don't even think of trying to pull a hero act and stopping the army by yourself. Like I said before, our weapons are made of litanium alloy, and we have plenty more absolute barriers just waiting for you."

                Helios gritted his teeth. By now he was doing everything he could to keep himself in restraint.

                "I can't believe this guy!" Harry cried. "Attacking civilians!"

                "If you wanted to avoid a direct attack on your cities," Theolis continued. "Meet me on the top of the Celestial Towers in Topaz city. You will take me the Council of Earth where all the council members will grant us our independence."

                Theolis looked down at Helios' left hand. "By the way," he said. "You can let go of me now."

                Helios reluctantly released Theolis, and hovered away from him.

                "Well, I'd love to stay here and continue to talk to you Helios," said Theolis. "But I have to get my arm treated before I lose too much blood. I suggest you have that lung looked at. I seriously doubt even your magic can repair vital organs." With that he descended downwards and was lost in the clouds.

                Helios just continued to hover in the same spot for a minute, before he flew away.

                Harry sighed as he watched the king fly away. "Poor Helios." He took out the sword of Helios and looked at it. "I guess there's more to war than fighting."

                The scenery around Harry started becoming fuzzy.

                "It's transforming."

                Soon the blue skies disappeared and were replaced by metal walls, giant columns, and computer-like hardware. Lights were blinking from everywhere, and there were computing sounds surrounding the room. Harry looked around the room obviously impressed by their technology.

                "It's amazing what can happen when wizards and muggles combine their talents," he said to himself.

                He immediately turned when he heard a sound come from behind him. The sound ended up being the footsteps of Helios and Theolis as they walked side by side towards where Harry was standing. Harry was about to move out of the way, when he noticed that it was a thin metal ledge he was standing on. He turned back to them. "No wait," he said while shaking his hands towards them. 

                They continued to walk like they didn't even notice him, until they just walked through him.

                "It's only a memory," Harry told himself. He looked around the place one more time. "But it seems so real." He turned and started running after the two.

                "Remember," Theolis said to Helios. "If my army doesn't get a message from me within the next hour they will initiate the attack, so don't try anything funny."

                Helios nodded.

                They continued to walk a bit further, until they came upon two extremely large doors. "This is the place," said Helios. "OPEN!" He shouted towards the door.

                A small panel on the door rose, and a robotic voice started coming from it. "Voice response recognition accepted," the voice said. "Retinal scan required." Helios bent down and placed his face near the panel. It blinked red. "Retinal scan accepted." The two doors started opening to reveal a large, dimly lit room with a panel full of twenty four people. They were all wearing hooded cloaks, and they kept their hoods up so it was impossible to see their faces.

                "Greetings council members!" said Helios, as he and Theolis started walking towards them.

                Theolis leaned in and whispered in Helios' ear. "Why did you have to go through all those procedures if the members are already in here?" he asked.   

                "Protection." Helios said simply.

                "Why? Didn't you tell them we were coming?"

                "No, I didn't have enough time."

                The two walked up to the podium in front of the panel and stood in front of all the council members.

                "I have some news," said Helios.

                "We already know," one of the members said.

                "You have failed us Helios!" another one snarled.

                "We were unprepared for their assault," said Helios, trying to defend himself.

                "We believe that you are no longer able to lead the people of this planet," said the first one.

                Helios nodded. "If the council wishes it, then I will step down from my position. However, first I-" 

                "You don't understand us Helios," Another council member interrupted. "This is not a proposal, this is a coup de'ta !"

                Helios' eyes widened a bit. "What do you mean?" he asked.

                One of the Council members removed her hood to reveal a blond woman around the age of twenty. "For the past 1000 years foolish words such as equality and tolerance have reigned over this planet. You as well as those who reigned before you preached these things to us and forced us to believe in them."

                Helios frowned. He obviously didn't like where this conversation was going. 

                The woman stood up and glared at Helios. "For over 1000 years we have been forced to lower ourselves to the same level as those vermin!" she growled. "At birth it was decided that we were the superior ones. We received the power to rule over all. Yet all this time we were forced to suppress our powers and live like the commoners instead of like the true superior beings that we are. It is natural selection Helios. All life forms exist for only one purpose; to give birth to, and to sustain a newly evolved superior being. That is how it was, and that is how it always will be! You and your ancestors foolishly tried to break this great cycle. You thought that you could disrupt the course of nature. And for a time it seemed like you were succeeding. However, it all ends now! It is time for nature to once again take over!"

                "I fail to understand what you're trying to get at," Helios gritted through his teeth.

                "It is time for the mages to take their rightful place as rulers of the muggles!"

                "HOW DARE YOU USE THAT WORD!!" Helios burst out. "That word is a symbol of hatred between the mages and non-mages! It was illegalized over a thousand years ago!" he growled.

                "One of the problems that we will fix, when we take over the earth and the space cities!" the female council member snarled. "As the new head of the council, I will make sure that that will happen!"

                Helios started reaching for his sword. "If you think that I'm must going to stand around and watch you turn the non-mages into second-class citizens-"

                "Actually," said another member of the council, as he stood up and removed his hood revealing a dark haired man. "_Second-class citizens is a bit high for the muggles! We were thinking __slaves to be a more appropriate term!"_

                "I shall never allow that!" growled Helios. "I swear that I shall fight you to my very last breath to prevent that from happening!"

                "That's fine," said the head of the council. "But if you do, you will die!"

                "The army is loyal to me," said Helios. "They will not go along with your twisted ideals!"

                "Who needs them," scoffed the head of the council. "While you were off fighting that foolish war, we have been breeding our own army. By now we have over two million powerful soldiers, ready and able to fight. Do you actually believe that your weakened army will stand a chance?

                "And don't think that we didn't come prepared for you, Helios!"

                "What?" gasped Helios.

                "Have you ever heard of the legend of the Holy one and the dark one?"

                "The battle that took place hundreds of millions of years ago?"

                The head nodded.                

                "Of course."

                "Well, it turns out that it wasn't a legend after all. Two yeas ago, we discovered ruins that contain the DNA of the dark one, and for the past two years, w have been studying the dark one. Now we have enough knowledge to bring him back to life!"

                Helios eyes widened with fear. "No!" he gasped. "You can't! You don't know what you're doing!"

                "Save you breath!" Theolis said for the first time since they entered the room. "Look at them." He pointed towards the council members. "Don't you notice anything weird?"

                Helios narrowed his eyes and looked at them carefully. "They don't give off any shadows.  They're holograms."

                "Did you think we were dumb enough to reveal our plans to you in person!" snarled the head of the council.

                "But you did make one fatal mistake!" gloated Theolis. He pulled up the sleeve of his left arm, revealing his special watch. "While you were babbling all this time, this little device was tracking your signal. At first I thought that your army was being bred here, but now I see I was wrong! But no matter, because now I know your exact location, and the location of the army!"

                Helios turned to him. His face had a shocked expression on it. "You knew about this?"

                "It was the reason why we attacked you," said Theolis. "Of course, we thought that you were in on it as well Helios, considering that you were head of the council." He turned to Helios. "Let me guess, you also didn't know about all those depositions that we sent the council requesting independence either?"

                Helios shook his head.

                "I expected as much," Theolis shrugged. "You must be embarrassed. A king not knowing what's going on in his kingdom!"

                Helios lowered his head.

                "But it doesn't matter now! Because now that we know who the real criminals are, we can join forces against them!"

                Helios smiled and nodded.

                "I'm afraid it's too late!" snarled the head of the council. "We have almost finished all the procedures to reawaken the dark one. In a few hours, we will have the most powerful weapon ever! Not even you two will stand a chance against him! Farewell!" Immediately all of the holograms disappeared.

                "Wait!" cried Helios. "You can't reawaken that thing! You won't be able to control it!"

                "Save your breath Helios. They will not change their mind. Bigotry and hatred have taken over them. Our only hope is if we can stop them before they are able to awaken the dark one!"

                "I think it's time you told me everything you know Theolis," said Helios. "About the depositions, the army, and why you started the war."

                "Okay," Theolis nodded. "I'll tell you on the way to the ships."

                With that they both took off and ran out the door.

                "I so confused," said Harry, as he started shaking his head in frustration. "What does any of this have to do with me and Voldemort?"

                The scenery around Harry started disappearing and once against a large ice filled room filled the scene. Harry once again started shivering from the cold. 'Karwyn,' said Harry. 'If this is their world, then they never made it did they?'

                'It doesn't seem so.'

                'You know the more I look at it, the more their culture seems like a more advanced version of ours. Are you sure that these are the people from our past?'

                'That's what I heard,' Karwyn answered nervously.

                'From who?' asked Harry.

                'That is not important,' Karwyn said quickly. 'Let us continue to the next memory. Maybe we'll find out what happened.'

                Harry stood in spot for a second. 'Do you know what this has to do with me and my world?' he asked.

                'Memoritia will only lead you to memories that are important for our future. Somehow, this knowledge will affect this planets future. Now let's go.'

                Harry nodded, and without a second thought he headed down a maze of steps towards the next memory.

a/n- Obviously this chapter was supposed to be a lot longer, but once again I decided to split it into many chapters.


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